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

Hours later, Solomon still hangs from the tree as work and play continue around him; Chapin watches with pistols but does nothing to ease his suffering.

Scene 120 of 211 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:17 into a 2:22 film

The story so farBefore scene 120

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 117
Chapin gives Solomon the nails and rides away, leaving him to carry the heavy keg himself.
Scene 118
Solomon breaks open the keg and diligently begins nailing clapboards onto the weaving house.
Scene 119
Tibeats attacks Solomon over the nails, but Solomon beats him off; Chapin shields Solomon from Tibeats’s returning lynch party with pistols, then leaves Solomon hanging while he sends for Ford.
Scene 120
This scene

120EXT. TANNER PLANATION - LATER

HOURS HAVE PASSED. The sun is now at its apex. Solomon remains tied and dangling exactly where he was left. Despite this odd and horrific sight, life on the plantation continues. The OTHER SLAVES work in the field. CHILDREN make their way playfully in the yard. It should all underscore the fact that a black, hanging even partially from a tree, is nothing unusual in this time and space.

Chapin walks back and forth with the pistols in his hands. Clearly he fears Tibeats returning with more and better assistance. And yet, he does nothing to alleviate Solomon's suffering. He heeds Tibeats words, and as though caught up in the middle of nothing more than a property dispute, he offers no further aid.