More than 130,000 Indians were conscripted to fight in Flanders during the First World War when they were under the ruling of the British raj—promising to them that after the war, they would attain their independence. However, the British lied and the promise was broken. This fact, like most colonial sins, of course weren’t taught in school curriculums.
In Flanders Fields (Sachin, 2024) recounts the lives of these soldiers. The film prefaces itself with the manual labour that Indian soldiers had to endure to fight for the British. We see them digging trenches, stacking sandbags on each other, and laying barbed wires in the fields. As these men prepare for upcoming battles, waiting becomes an integral part of their experience. Until eventually, the first shots were fired. Around 7,000 Indian soldiers died in the battles in and around the town of Ypres, which was in West Flanders. Of these, the names and histories of only 413 are known. The rest lie in unmarked graves all over the Flemish countryside.
This short documentary seeks to bring the messages of these forgotten soldiers away from lands of Belgium, to reach their homes thousands kilometres away. Superimposing archival images of the soldiers from the war to present-day images of the same areas where the war took place, serves as a thought-provoking image of the past and present, of being alien, and most of all, the impossibility of getting back into their homelands as the years go by—even as spirits. Through the recitation of hopes and stories found in the letters of these Indian soldiers, director Sachin is not going to let their lives be buried to time as the Flanders’ grounds did to their battle-torn bodies. This film, then, functions with the purpose of honouring those who came before him. Remembering these men that are displaced by colonial powers as expendable soldiers, to fight for their political agendas.
As societies struggling from colonialism and its aftermath, let us, too, mourn in solidarity for these men that didn’t make it out alive from the war in Flanders fields. Colonisation is not our national struggle alone, but of nations in which the groups of people, lands, and cultures are exploited and wrung dry. Lest we forget about our erasures and everybody we have lost. (Timmie) (Ed. Vanis)
Film Details
In Flanders Fields (ਫਲੈਂਡਰਸ ਦੀ ਜ਼ਮੀਂ ਵਿੱਚ)
Sachin | 16 min | 2024 | Belgium, India
In Competition for Short Documentary
Festival Film Dokumenter 2025
