12 Years a Slave · written by John Ridley and Steve McQueen · 2013

Tibeats takes Eliza away in a cart; Mistress Ford tells the remaining workers that the separation is for the best because Eliza’s grief disrupts her work.

Scene 100 of 211 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Mrs. Ford

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:00 into a 2:22 film

The story so farBefore scene 100

After being kidnapped from New York and sold into slavery, Solomon Northup uses his skills and carefully placed trust to survive and seek a way back to his family.

Scenes 1–29
Solomon lives freely in Saratoga as a husband, father, worker, and musician.
Scenes 30–65
Kidnapped and held under the imposed name Platt, Solomon must preserve his life and identity.
Scene 86
Ford takes Solomon, Harry, and Eliza from Freeman; Eliza is dragged away from Emily, committing Solomon to plantation life and its family separations.
Scene 87
Ford brings Solomon and the other captives into plantation life; Solomon must survive within a system that denies his identity.
Just before
Scene 97
At the mill, Taydem berates the workers for moving too slowly, and Ford rebukes his tone.
Scene 98
Solomon grinds corn and plays with Sally’s children; Eliza imagines Randall safe, then breaks down as Sally bluntly tells her to accept the loss.
Scene 99
Solomon reads Sam’s Bible at lunch; a white customer attacks Sam for reading, but Ford defends the Bible as his gift and affirms the slaves’ right to Scripture.
Scene 100
This scene

100EXT. FORD PLANTATION - DAY

Eliza is being ridden off in a cart driven by Tibeats. Watching her depart are Master and Mistress Ford, Rose, Sally, Walton and Solomon.

Ford heads back into the house without a word. The Mistress turns to the other slaves and states plainly:

MRS. FORD

It's for the best. She weeps

constantly, more occupied in

broodin' over her sorrows than in

attendin' to her business. I

cannot have that kind of

depression about. ...It's for the

best.