Streaming The Firemen’s Ball Online
Vendredi, mai 21st, 2010 |
Streaming The Firemen’s Ball Online.
Movie Title: The Firemen’s Ball The Firemen’s Ball is available for streaming or downloading. |
This delightful film of Milos Forman (Amadeus, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) tells the story of a dance sponsored by local firemen in a small Czech village. In it, Forman sets the stage for a subtle critique of society under Soviet-style Communism. The dance itself is held to honor the retiring fire chief who is dying of cancer but of course, will not be told of this. The firemen hilariously set out to haphazardly pick girls out of the crowd for a Beauty Contest to be held during the dance (the list is constantly bickered about back and forth between the fireman and eventually lost in the confusion). Also, there is a table of assorted prizes for a raffle which is guarded over by one of the fireman and his hilariously bitchy and not too observant wife. The raffle prizes gradually start to disappear, but who is to blame? Add to this the wonderfully wacky free-for-all of a beauty pageant and a real fire and you have one of Forman’s best early films. Many of the “actors” are actual local villagers and this is all for the best as human failings and character are highlighted to underscore how people living under an authoritarian society begin to think only of themselves and what they can get and also the issue of who is guilty and who is innocent in this society. Highly recommended!!
He may be bathing in millions on account of his big Oscar wins for “Amadeus” & “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”–but director Milos Forman perfected his basic style with films like this, one of the most cherishable little comedies ever made. Indeed, its hour-and-fifteen-minute length makes one crave reliving this warm and extremely human story again and again.
Made while Forman was still living under Communist rule in Czecholslovakia, “Fireman’s Ball” was meant as a satire of government bureaucracy, though the story can be enjoyed purely at face value. The firemen are pathetic pillars of the community who engage in endless and logic-bending arguments over ridiculous little points, desperately nabbing any reluctant teenage girls for the beauty pageant; while the people outside are enjoying and upsetting the ball (even stealing all of the edible raffle prizes) to their hearts’ content. Everybody’s concerned only with himself or herself……until an outside siren leads everybody to a fire destroying an old man’s house. Finally, everyone seems united in a common cause. The tragedy of the story–as well as the Czech people–is driven home.
Absolutely wonderful transfer–those of us who’ve caught it in infrequent TV broadcasts (notably on the USA network) have had to endure white subtitles obscured in decrepit-quality prints, or lost in the screen detail. Here they are completely readable. The interviews with Forman & his erstwhile photographer Miroslav Ondricek are enlightening. My one complaint is that this Criterion Collection edition doesn’t give us Forman’s original English-language introduction, appended to original American & British prints of the film (he looked quite stylish in a beard).
Amazing, too, that this film uses no professionals among its actors–simply friends and even schoolboy pals of Forman’s.
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