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

Outside the pub, Solomon retches from the drink while Brown and Hamilton feign concern and say he needs rest.

Scene 27 of 211 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Hamilton
Solomon
Brown

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 17 min into a 2:22 film

The story so farBefore scene 27

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 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
Solomon joins Brown and Hamilton among the crowd watching the solemn, pageant-like funeral procession for President Harrison.
Scene 26
Solomon asks to visit the President’s House, but Brown and Hamilton keep him drinking in the crowded pub instead.
Scene 27
This scene

27EXT. ALLEY - LATER

WE MAKE A HARD CUT to Solomon outside of the Pub, in an alley, with Brown and Hamilton. He is violently ill, hunched over and retching horribly.

HAMILTON

That's all right Solomon. No

shame in it. No shame at all.

SOLOMON

I'm not...uugh...not much of a

drinker.

HAMILTON

Just let those ill feelings out.

BROWN

Suppose we won't be going to the

Presidential Mansion. Shame.

HAMILTON

It is. Tis a damn shame. All the

more if Solomon can't summon

himself. We need to get you to

where you can rest.