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

Solomon joins Brown and Hamilton among the crowd watching the solemn, pageant-like funeral procession for President Harrison.

Scene 25 of 211 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 16 min into a 2:22 film

The story so farBefore scene 25

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 22
Solomon completes the paperwork for free papers at the customs house; the official files his freedom in a vast ledger.
Scene 23
Solomon, Brown, and Hamilton arrive in Washington, where the city mourns President Harrison and anticipates his funeral.
Scene 24
Brown gives Solomon a $43 advance from the circus, then asks him to stay an extra day because Harrison’s funeral procession delays their departure.
Scene 25
This scene

25EXT. WASHINGTON AVENUE - DAY

It is the day of the funeral procession. Despite the pall, there is, too, a great pageant on display. Harrison is, after all, the first American Head of State to die while in office. There is the roar of cannon and the tolling of bells.

We see the FUNERAL PROCESSION: carriage after carriage in long succession with thousands following on foot - all moving to the sound of melancholy music. Though solemn, it is very much parade like with the populace pushing and shoving to get a better look at the procession as it passes. Solomon, Hamilton and Brown among them.