Francois Pienaar 'And Invictus'

The largest theme of the movie is most definitely over coming trials placed in front of you and focusing on the hope for a better future. In the case of Nelson Mandela, he overcame an endless number of trials over the course of the movie. Not only did Mandela have to survive a long, and unjust, imprisonment, but he also had to face the challenges brought on of his presidency. The divide between the two cultures of South Africa was a seemingly impossible challenge to fix, but Mandela never loses hope of having a future with a united country. He knew that fixing the damage of the Apartheid would be hard, if not impossible, but he had hope that the country could slowly come together for a better future. Mandela uses Francois Pienaar and his rugby …show more content…
This is reflected several times throughout the movie. Mandela used this poem while he was imprisoned to remind himself to be strong and to have courage. The poem helped him remain calm and strong while he was imprisoned. After he becomes president, Mandela can also be seen rewriting the poem at his desk for Francois. Although Francois battle is much less traumatic than Mandela’s, Mandela wants to give Francois courage and remind him that a win from the rugby team could play a huge roll in taking a step to unite the country – especially now that Mandela is publically supporting …show more content…
Francois leads and encourages his rugby team on the field and off. When things are going poorly, he encourages them to play harder, work together, and to do their very best. This leads them to work as hard as they can to work their way up to winning the world cup. He also leads his team off the playing field. Mandela wants the team to travel and teach rugby in a camp to kids – everyone in the team hates this idea and is completely against it except Francois. When the guys tell him to tell Mandela to tell Mandela no, he refuses and makes them do this. As the guys work with the kids, you can see them growing and changing as a team. They come to work unitedly thanks to Francois’