Willem Rombauts

The original screenplay told the story of a young man from the countryside with a city education: a boorish, violent character filled with a desperate, purely urban unease. Dekeukeleire transformed him into a butcher who commits an act of rebellion during a political demonstration at the foot of the Yser Tower (with authentic images of the 1930 meeting) which is being suppressed brutally by the authorities. White Flame secretes a drifting air of unreality straight out of Buñuel, born out of 'carnal' close-ups and an editing style which owes a great deal to Soviet films of that period.

When a wanderer arrives in a village in the East Flanders countryside, strange events begin to unfold. The villagers, unsettled by his presence, come to believe he is an evil spirit. In truth, he is searching for his long-lost lover. Years ago, the two of them had committed a terrible crime: the killing of an illegitimate child. They had then planned to end their own lives by drowning. Yet the wanderer failed to keep his part of the pact and survived the suicide attempt. Ever since, he has been desperately seeking the woman he once loved, haunted by the past that refuses to let him go.