Synopsis

If the raffle prizes disappear one after another, the beauty contest participants won’t go on stage for anything in the world, and everybody avoids taking the blame for innumerable mishaps, then you are right on time for the firemen’s ball in Miloš Forman’s 1967 film of the same name. What should have been a big celebration to honour the now deathly-ill former fire chief, turns out to be a complete disaster despite the organisers’ energetic efforts and good will. The excessive demands and clumsiness of the firemen are in the centre of this satirical story. The result is slapstick which – because of the casting of only amateur actors – appears garish and realistic at the same time. With The Firemen’s Ball, Forman delivers a provocative critique of his home country’s regime under the guise of a brilliantly-staged comedy. The consequence: the masterpiece was banned in Czechoslovakia while being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film the same year. The director felt forced to emigrate soon thereafter. This didn’t harm his career though – quite the contrary: He received an Oscar for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and another for Amadeus. And in fact, he was allowed to actually take the desirable statuettes home this time.