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

Solomon completes the paperwork for free papers at the customs house; the official files his freedom in a vast ledger.

Scene 22 of 211 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Customs Official

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 14 min into a 2:22 film

The story so farBefore scene 22

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.

Scene 1
A butcher carries a sheep from its pen into the slaughter shed; the killing follows in scene 2, while scene 1 establishes the image of captivity.
Scene 9
Jasper asks how he might escape, and Solomon says to “watch your opportunities and strike for freedom”; this is a reading of the line as the story’s theme of waiting for a chance to act.
Just before
Scene 19
Solomon joins Brown and Hamilton’s waiting carriage; when they ask about a letter, he says his return should coincide with his family’s.
Scene 20
At a sparsely attended roadside show, Solomon plays violin while Brown performs a series of comic pantomimes.
Scene 21
At a boarding house, Brown and Hamilton apologize for their meager show earnings, then persuade Solomon to continue with them to Washington and obtain free papers before entering slave states.
Scene 22
This scene

22INT. CUSTOM HOUSE - MORNING

We are in a PORT-SIDE BUILDING housing the offices for the government officials who process paperwork. Solomon is filling out paperwork as Hamilton and Brown watch. A CUSTOMS OFFICIAL transcribes the information into a sizable ledger. He stamps the paper, then hands it back to Solomon.

CUSTOMS OFFICIAL

Your free papers, Mr. Northup.

Finished, the Official walks the ledger back to a row of shelves, and replaces the book among MANY, MANY others. Though Solomon gives it no thought, it's a little daunting to consider how precarious his freedom is once consigned to this ledger.