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

Solomon, Brown, and Hamilton arrive in Washington, where the city mourns President Harrison and anticipates his funeral.

Scene 23 of 211 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 14 min into a 2:22 film

The story so farBefore scene 23

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 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
Solomon completes the paperwork for free papers at the customs house; the official files his freedom in a vast ledger.
Scene 23
This scene

23EXT. WASHINGTON - DAY

Far from the bureaucratic seat of government it is now, the Washington of the era is as much swampland as city. Still, the elements that are urban are extraordinary. The Capital Building, the White House... At this time the Washington Monument would not yet have been constructed.

At the moment the populace is displaying both sorrow and anticipation. Sorrow for the loss of the President and anticipation of his funeral. Many are dressed in black, and black crepe hangs nearly everywhere. As well, there are portraits of Harrison at varying locations.

Having arrived in Washington, Solomon, Hamilton and Brown RIDE IN ON THEIR CARRIAGE.