On his way home, he soon finds one : he saves the life of a pregnant woman named Lisa who, according to the intentions of the townspeople where she comes from, should be locked up in an old mine to die of the plague.
Even though she is not yet sick.
Keoma discovers that this is not the only bad thing that has happened in the town near her old home : in fact, a certain Caldwell, who has bought both the mine and all the land in the area, has taken over.
And nobody can leave “his” town.
Unless you die in a gunfight.
Or by the plague (even if you are healthy at the moment).
At this point, however, he has a problem: standing up to Caldwell by challenging him (while protecting Lisa) also puts him at odds with Shannon, Butch, Lenny and Sam, who are his half-brothers.
But Keoma’s thinking is clear :
“We all have the right to be born”.
Including Lisa’s son.
Keoma never imagines the past, but relives it directly.
Death does not only loom over him, it accompanies him.
It materializes in the first scenes, and it is a woman of flesh and blood who does not hesitate to give him advice :
“They were never your people, they never loved you…”
And in the end, she is the midwife of Lisa’s baby, born in the violence of a final duel in which no sound is heard except the screams of the mother who will die in childbirth.
This “old” woman who speaks to Keoma symbolizes death, while Lisa symbolizes life being reborn from death.
This is a movie with a very timely message against discrimination and exploitation.
But above all, it is a hymn to the freedom and courage of one person – the Indian half-breed Keoma – who gives everything for everyone.
