The fire brigade ball
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The fire brigade ball (Anuschka - my darling is on fire) |
| Original title | Hoří, má panenko |
| Country of production | Czechoslovakia |
| original language | Czech |
| Publishing year | 1967 |
| length | 73 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Miloš Forman |
| script | Miloš Forman Jaroslav Papoušek Ivan Passer |
| production |
Rudolf Hájek Carlo Ponti |
| music | Karel Mareš |
| camera | Miroslav Ondříček |
| cut | Miroslav Hájek |
| occupation | |
| |
The Fire Brigade Ball is a Czechoslovak comedy directed by Miloš Forman from 1967 and produced by the Barrandov Film Studios in Prague .
action
The film depicts the grotesque fire fighting ball in a small Czech town, which is gradually getting out of control.
On the evening of the celebration, the fire brigade board decided at short notice to hold a miss election . The members of the committee search the hall for suitable candidates, but hardly find anything. They also disagree about many of the girls. A father can only get his overweight daughter into the selection by bribing him with alcohol.
At the same time, more and more items are disappearing from the table with the raffle prizes . The food in particular is very popular. The dutiful firefighter Josef tries to keep things tidy, but has no success - even his wife participates in the theft. Meanwhile, a young couple is having fun under the table.
After all, the highlight of the evening is ahead: The Miss Fire Brigade Ball is to be chosen and the terminally ill honorary captain is to be presented with a small ax on the occasion of his 86th birthday. But the intimidated girls do not feel like this kind of display and lock themselves in the toilet. In the hall, “substitute candidates” are then carried onto the stage by force.
Suddenly the fire alarm goes off, an old man's house is on fire. Since the fire engine is stuck in the snow, the men are unable to put out the fire. You then agree to give the old man all the raffle tickets for the fire brigade ball as a little consolation. But apart from a few kitsch items, most of the prizes have already been stolen. The fire brigade board withdrew to an emergency meeting to discuss how the evening could still be saved. When you leave the next room, the hall is empty. Only the old and slightly confused honorary captain is still waiting for his appearance. The festival committee hands him the gift box with the ax, but it turns out that this too was stolen.
background
After the success of his film A Blonde's Love in 1965, Forman traveled with his screenwriters Ivan Passer and Jaroslav Papoušek to the northern Czech city of Vrchlabí in order to be able to concentrate on completing a new project in the seclusion there. One evening they attended the local fire department's ball together. "What we saw was such a nightmare that we couldn't stop talking about it," Forman later recalled. This experience served as the inspiration for the script for Der Feuerwehrball .
The film was made on a very low budget. Most of the actors, some of them real firefighters, were laypeople .
The premiere took place on December 15, 1967. The Czechoslovak government and the censors believed that the satirical plot was a political allegory of the socialist system. After the crackdown on the Prague Spring and the subsequent change of government, the film was therefore removed from the program after only three weeks and "forever banned". The Italian producer Carlo Ponti then refused to support the production. Forman himself always asserted at the time that the work did not contain any “hidden symbols or double meanings”. However, he later admitted that the dissident echoes were quite deliberate.
After it was banned in Czechoslovakia, French director François Truffaut , a friend of Forman's, acquired the rights to the film. A short time later it was shown at the New York Film Festival and gained international fame.
The fire brigade ball was Forman's first color film and the last for the time being that he shot in his home country. It was only with Amadeus in 1984 that Forman was able to film again in Czechoslovakia.
Curiosities
- While the firefighters wait for the candidates for the election of the "Miss Fire Brigade", the fire chief browsed through an issue of the German magazine Stern, which was banned in Czechoslovakia at the time .
Reviews
“Forman tells a story that is ultimately tragic and characterized by human unscrupulousness with its own sense of humor. […] It is also amazing how the amateur actors play along. They play their respective part in this absurd spectacle with great commitment. "
“It's like that so often. We start out with the best of intentions, but we foul things up. And then we don't know whether to laugh or cry. And that is exactly the case with Milos Forman's “The Firemen's Ball”, a small, warm jewel of a movie from Czechoslovakia. [...] Forman develops his material with loving care. He never laughs at his characters; instead, he sees them as victims of human nature. […] This is a very warm, funny movie, and perhaps the best way you could spend an evening in a theater just now. It is a relief to find a director who doesn't force his material, who trusts us to understand what's funny without being told. "
“As is so often the case: we start with the best of intentions, but everything goes wrong. And then we don't know whether to laugh or cry. This is exactly how it is in Milos Forman's “Fire Brigade Ball”, a small, warm-hearted jewel from a film from Czechoslovakia. [...] Forman develops his material lovingly. He never laughs at his characters, he sees them instead as victims of human nature. [...] This is a warm, funny film and perhaps the best way to have a movie night out right now. It is relieving to see a director who does not torment his material, but trusts us that we know what is funny ourselves, without being told to us. "
“The film [...] impresses with its good powers of observation and its cast. Recommended for ages 16 and up. "
"Famos watched the type comedy of the later Hollywood director and OSCAR winner Forman."
Awards
The fire brigade ball received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1969 .
Web links
- The Firemen's Ball at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The fire brigade ball in the online film database
- Review in the filmzentrale
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hoří, má panenko. In: YouTube . Retrieved April 25, 2019 (Czech).
- ↑ Hoří, má panenko. In: YouTube . Retrieved February 15, 2019 (Czech, scene with Stern magazine).
- ↑ Evangelical Press Association, Munich, Review No. 244/1970.
- ↑ Lexicon of International Films, rororo-Taschenbuch No. 6322 (1988), p. 165