Do Kum-bong has played dynamic and outgoing characters in contrast to passive and submissive characters played by Choi Eun-hee in some films such as Sung Choon-hyang (Shin Sang-ok, 1961) and Mother and a Guest in the Master’s Room (Shin Sang-ok, 1961). In Flame in the Valley, she again plays a role as Sa-wol who actively pursues her own desire and thus confronts brutal punishment in contrast to the character of Jeom-rye who gets uncontrollably involved in a forbidden relationship with a stranger but, in the end, chooses self-sacrifice.
 The film is set during the Korean War in an isolated mountain village which is occupied by frustrated women who get tired of waiting for their husbands to come back from the War not even sure if they are still alive. One day, Jeom-rye runs into an escaped POW hiding in a bamboo forest in the back of the village. She secretly helps him and ends up in a forbidden romance with him. However, Sa-wol becomes aware of their relationship and threatens the two lovers. The two women agree to share the man sexually, and the twisted desires lead them to a tragic end partly caused by the insanity of the war.
 While the whole village is haunted by the neurotic conflicts of ideologies, Do Kum-bong’s long-suppressed sexual tension and desire is irresistibly fascinating and threatening.
 (Joo You-shin)