This apocalyptic parable carries within it a clear echo of the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. This unforgiving exploration of the Czech mentality tells the tale of a troupe of wandering actors who perform a passion play in some unnamed village. Fear of some unknown danger breaks out in the village, which is cut off from the surrounding world. Stupidity, selfishness and aggressiveness then come to the surface in this society under threat. In the film's key scene, a woman is raped by the self-styled leader. Zdenuk Mahler, who would later work on Forman's examination Mozart Amadeus, worked on the script.　　The director Evald Schorm (1929-1988) was one of the most original members of the Czech New Wave. During the normalization era, Schorm spent many years unable to direct. His last film, Killing with Kindness (1988) was only made in the twilight years of Communism. During that period when he was unable to direct films, he became an outstanding stage director. He directed groundbreaking productions at the Na zábradlí Theater and Laterna Magika.

Released in France as La Kermesse Heroique, Carnival in Flanders is set during the long-ago war between the Dutch and Spanish. A tiny village in Flanders is invaded by Spanish troops. The townsfolk have heard of Spanish cruelties in other towns, and decide to deflect the vanquishers by playing dead. This isn't terribly effective (you have to take a breath once in a while), so the wife of the burgomaster tries to soften up the invaders with a lavish carnival. So successful is this venture that the Spaniards allow the village to escape being decimated, or even taxed. An award-winner many times over, Carnival in Flanders was banned in Germany; evidently, Goebbels caught on that director Jacques Feyder and scenarists Bernard Zimmer and Charles Spaak were drawing deliberate parallels between the Spanish and the then-burgeoning Nazis.