Forman is a master of moving the masses. In his organic-feeling films, banquets, auditions, and dances unfold with whimsical spontaneity. Not surprisingly, The Firemen's Ball is a farcical fable about the failure of crowd control, about a Czech bureaucracy lost to its own bungling. The ball in question is organized by the old guard of the fire department; to a man, they rib, chide, and badger one another in what becomes an avalanche of comedic errors. To paraphrase one critic, the dance begins with a traditional polka, but before long everyone is swaying to the strains of absurdity. A beauty contest deteriorates into hilarity as the girls chosen are too timid to compete; the vast display of raffle prizes is pilfered, including the head cheese and a gold-plated hatchet; and outside in the cold, an elderly man's house burns down while a few inept firefighters throw snow at the flames. This warmhearted satire was banned during the Communist chill.