THE FIREMEN´S BALL

THE FIREMEN´S BALL (HORZHÍ, MÁ PANENKO), 1967
Czech Republic | 35mm, Color, 71’ | Czech
Director: Milos Forman
Cast: Jan Vostrcil, Josef Sebánek, Josef Valnoha, Frantisek Debelka

The fire department in a small town is having a big party when the ex-boss of the department celebrates his 86th birthday. The whole town is invited but things do not go as planned: someone is stealing the prizes to the lottery, everyone gets drunk, a fire breaks out, and there are no willing candidates for the Miss Fire-Department beauty contest. The result is a ball that is transformed into a bittersweet comedy, which is imbued with a quasi-documentary atmosphere that comes in no small part from the use of a cast many of whose members really are firefighters. In The Firemen’s Ball, director Milos Forman produced an elegant criticism of the Communist regime while unwrapping a number of themes and devices that would become his trademarks on later award-winners such as One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Hair, and Amadeus.