February 17, 2022

Miloš Forman's Birthday

On February 18, 1932, in the Czech city of Čáslav, in the family of Professor Rudolf Forman and his wife Anna (nee Svabova), the owner of a summer hotel, a second son was born, who was named Jan Tomáš. In 1940, after the capture of Czechoslovakia by Hitler's troops, Jan Tomáš' parents, active participants in the Czechoslovak Resistance for distributing anti-Nazi literature, were arrested by the Gestapo and placed in the Dora-Mittelbau (Buchenwald branch) and Auschwitz (Oświęcim) concentration camps. In these camps in 1943-1944, Rudolf and Anna Formans were destroyed.

Miloš Forman at the Oscars for Amadeus. 1985.

Until the end of the war, his aunt Anna and uncle Boleslav were engaged in the education of the future director, and after the war he was placed in the newly created boarding school named after King George in the resort town of Poděbrady. Formally, this school was organized for war orphans, but in fact, as Miloš Forman later recalled, the children of diplomats, party officials and other high-ranking persons were kept there. For this reason, the best teachers in the country taught at the school. Among the friends of Jan Tomáš was the future President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel.

Lásky jedné plavovlásky (A Blonde in Love). 1965. Movie's Rating - 8,212; 477th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

After graduating from school, Jan Tomáš Forman entered the directing department of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. During a trip to East Germany in 1960, Forman acquired a movie camera, which allowed him to start making documentaries. In 1963, Jan Tomáš Forman, who by that time had changed his name to Miloš, shot his first full-length feature film "Cerný Petr (Black Peter)". Film critics consider this picture one of the first films of the so-called "Czechoslovak new wave". The peculiarity of this creative direction was the appeal to the themes of lost youth, a critical attitude to double public morality, the use of "black humor" and everything else that socialist realism did not allow. The film "Black Peter", despite the fact that it was shot by a debutant, became the winner of the international Film Festival in Locarno. Forman's next film, "Lásky jedné plavovlásky (A Blonde in Love)" (1965), achieved even greater festival success. It won the Danish Film Academy's Bodil Award for Best European Film, as well as nominations for the Academy Awards, Golden Globe and Golden Lion of the Venice Film Festival.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. 1975. Movie's Rating - 11,231; 5th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

Milos Forman's next film, "Horí, má panenko (The Firemen's Ball)" (1967), was perceived by the Communist authorities as a sharp satire on Eastern European communism in general and on the scam with large-scale theft of budget funds, in particular, which was actively discussed at that time in Czechoslovakia. As a result, the film was banned in the countries of the socialist camp. The ban of the picture "The Firemen's Ball" coincided with the beginning of the events called "Prague Spring" and the subsequent suppression of mass popular protests by the military contingents of the Warsaw Pact countries. The brutality with which these protests were suppressed left no doubt about the future fate of critical intellectuals, such as Miloš Forman. In addition, by that time Forman found out that his biological father was not Rudolf Furman, but the architect of Jewish origin Otto Kohn.

Immediately after the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Otto Kohn and his family emigrated to Ecuador. His second son, the blood brother of Miloš Forman, Joseph Cohn, being a talented mathematician, moved to the United States after the end of the war in 1945. By the end of the 60s, he was already a Professor of mathematics at Princeton University. He arranged for Miloš Forman to move to the USA. After moving to America, Miloš Forman shot 10 more full-length feature films, including such masterpieces as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975), "Hair" (1979), "Amadeus" (1984). Based on the fact that 4 films of Miloš Forman were included in the Golden Thousand, he is included in the list of the 100 greatest directors of world cinema compiled by FilmGourmand. Miloš Forman's cinematographic activity has been marked by 49 awards, including such prestigious ones as 2 Academy Awards, 3 Golden Globes, 3 Danish Bodil Film Awards, the Golden and Silver Bears of the Berlin International Film Festival, the BAFTA Award, the Cesar Award, the Locarno Film Festival Award, the Grand Prix of the Jury of the Cannes International Film Festival.

Amadeus. 1984. Movie's Rating - 9,544; 78th Rank in the Golden Thousand.

In commemoration of the birthday of the great Master, I want to remind fans of his work of footage from his best films.