MisterWhiplash The Firemen's Ball is a pretty short movie - less than 80 minutes in fact, maybe just at 70 - and it's been several years since I've seen it in full. But so much of it is still fresh in my mind, it speaks to the enduring power and weird comedy that Forman put together. I remember there was dancing, and also a lot of pointed commentary about Communism. The basic premise is that a big party for an 86 year old ex-boss is happening one night, but there are things going wrong: people aren't as beautiful as they should be for a Beauty pageant, and prizes are missing for a lottery.But what's so memorable about the movie is that it's not really about any plot. Incidents just... happen in the movie, but they're all building to a big something that will happen... or maybe might not happen. It's all a big indictment about a society that wishes one thing and just cannot deliver, at all. But it's also funny, very funny, because of how the characters want and wish and act and are so wrong-headed in how they think things will work out. The air around it has a bit of sadness to it too, but it comes from people who have lived through this through generations (and at the time the Czech Republic didn't have nearly as many freedoms as those in the West).

chaos-rampant This Czech satire is nearly perfect for what it is, but you'll have to decide its value for you. It's smart and thought-out.But it's illuminating how it is unlike the previous film of the same team of writer and filmmaker, Loves of a Blonde. Both films are about social situations as they engage and spin humans. In Loves however, each situation was both a skit and sensitive insight of the heroine exploring herself through her stories of having been explored by men.The main situation here is that it's the annual firemen's ball. But each new one on top of that is simply diversion, plainly so. The beauty contest as diversion from honoring the previous chairman. The fire as diversion from gawking at the girls. The stolen lottery as diversion from the plight of the man whose house burned down. There is a lot of hiding around and fooling others. The childish firemen in their fine uniforms may as well be Party higherups, tasked through the night to carry out a few simple duties, all of which they bungle, all because they wanted some diversion. (the girls are deliberately ugly, to keep us from gawking and missing the point)Where Bunuel would cruelly emphasize stupidity, Forman shows petty but human beings, retains a spontaneous flow of life, all of which elevate the film to something I can enjoy.But as with every film, it comes down to what you think sufficiently explains the world. Is it foolishness in the gears of state? Is it desire, stifled or overflowing that's causing misery? Some more puzzling urge for story in the soul that is creating images?More to the point, the film is about the emptiness of having to be entertained. So it is perfect for what it is. At what cost though? The film itself is empty. So you'll have to decide the value and novelty of the lesson.

mikelang42 Reaching 70 years young in a few weeks, I was thinking about some of the films I most enjoyed when young and would I still enjoy them now? The Fireman's Ball seems to be a lost comedy here in the UK. It never pops up on TV and does not appear in film festivals or revival houses.What a loss to those who were not alive in 1967. If your a Brit reading this think Dad's Army and then fireman instead and your nearly there.Its country of origin is Czechoslovakia,with a little help from Italy, a big hit with a best foreign film Oscar, a running time of 73 mins and not one minute wasted.A town's fire department celebrating with a ball to honour it's retired elderly chief, a beauty contest and a large table with raffle prizes that vanish one by one, that's it,but oh boy it is good, totally droll and very funny.The punchline at it's end maybe posted but who cares. If only some of the comedies today knew when to stop. Really pleased that this was one old film I rerented.

mariacaswell I liked this movie, but then I like slower moving movies with actors that look like real people. This film gives real historical insight into a communist society, including how artists such as Forman tried to get a message through without being completely censored. I have a question about this film, however. I keep reading and hearing that this film uses no professional actors, and the firemen you see are the real firemen from a small town in Bohemia. However, several of these actors were also in Loves of a Blonde, which was an earlier film. So, I surmise that some of the firemen were the real firemen, and others were actors he had used before. This film is well worth seeing. I laughed aloud several times, and smiled through all of it. He has a gift for the small moments of humor and pathos in anyone's life, and it is quite a humorous comment on Czechoslovakian communist society.