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.
