The Firemen's Ball (1967)

A small-town fire brigade's committee tries to run a dance, a raffle and a beauty contest, and every one of them collapses: the prizes are stolen, the contestants refuse and the committee votes on everything except what matters. Miloš Forman never names the Communist Party, and never needs to. It was his last Czech film before he moved to America, and Czechoslovak audiences and censors alike read the committee as the state. The film was nominated for the Oscar for best foreign-language film. Seventy-odd minutes of deadpan, mostly non-professional actors; knowing it was made on the eve of 1968 sharpens every scene.