Review of The Firemen's Ball (1967) by Elise L — 22 Nov 2003

Viewed 11/22/03 (DVD) (First Viewing).

Extremely humorous but biting satire. For his last Czech film, director Milos Forman takes what appears to be an ordinary occurrence, a ball put on by the local firemen, and turns it into a scathing commentary on the Communist government that was in power in Czechoslovakia at that time. For good reason the censors didn't like the film, and it was promptly banned from Czechoslovakia forever. (It was saved from a doomed existence by François Truffaut and others in the French film community who came to Forman's aid and bought the rights themselves.).

Aside from the politics, I was completely won over by the humor of the film, which ranges from gentle fun-poking to blatant slapstick. It's not the characters that are the focus here, but the absurd situation that keeps slipping more and more out of control. The banner catchers on fire, a beauty contest featuring a group of awkward and homely young women is thrown together and quickly disintegrates, the lottery prizes keep disappearing from the table... and the committee members have no idea what to do and run around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to deal with the problems that keep piling up.

With every film I watch, the more enamored I'm becoming with the Czech New Wave. [i]Firemen's Ball[/i] is the fourth film and fourth masterpiece I've had the privilege to see from this era.