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

As Solomon hangs in the heat, Rachel secretly gives him water and wipes his lips before leaving him suspended.

Scene 121 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 121

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 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
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 121
This scene

121EXT. TANNER PLANATION - LATER

Solomon continues to hang. By now he is drenched in sweat, and nearly delirious with dehydration. His lips dry and parched. He may not die from hanging, but he may very well expire before the day is over.

Eventually Rachel comes over - timidly, and as though she were acting contrary to orders - and offers a drink of water from a tin cup, pouring it in Solomon's mouth for him. She then takes a small hand towel and dabs at the water which clings to his lips.

She then retreats, and leaves Solomon to hang.