Mandela Movie Study
1. In the movie Mandela and François Pienaar, the captain of the Springboks rugby team, talk about inspiration. What is the purpose of “inspiration” according to the movie? How do both Mandela and François attempt to inspire others?
The purpose of inspiration as we can identify in the movie is being able to overpass our established limits. Mandela talking with the captain of the Springboks, François Pienaar. Mandela tries to motivate the captain of the team proposing inspiration strategies like the song “Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika” which means God Bless Africa and it’s an anthem.
All of the conversation that they established François Pienaar arrived at the conclusion that Mandela pretended to motivate the captain and his team to win the World Cup.
2. “He won the election, but can he run a country”? Nelson Mandela runs a serious political risk by giving so much attention to the rugby team. What motivates him in his office as president? Use the motivational theories seen in class to answer this question.
What motivates Mandela in his office as a president is to be able to leave apart the problems that the Springboks have had with an important amount of the population with the apartheid which was a system based on white supremacy and the repression of the black (African, Coloured and Indian) majority of the population for the benefit of the politically and economically dominant group.
What Mandela pretends is to join a whole country in order to have a new country without thinking and being able to forget the problems in the past.
The question :“He won the election, but can he run a country”? Is a very important question from our point of view do to the fact that we think that he can run a country because he is a unique leader being able to see further than normal people. In what almost all the population see hate and revenge (Springboks), Mandela is able to see prosperity and inspiration.
3. The best leaders are often said to be the ones that can inspire others. What characterizes Mandela as a leader? Give specific examples of this from the movie (scenes or quotes).
From our perspective we see Mandela as a leader being able to fight for his ideas and he sees good part in all of the things that have hate and revenge in them. That makes him a good leader.
He is told not to defend the Springboks that the only thing that team has brought for the population is hate, and he is told also that he is risking his future in politics, but Mandela responds: “The day I am afraid to do that is the day I am no longer fit to lead”
Another of the quotes that impacted us was: “Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.”
We think that forgiveness is necessary in a country and that if we don’t forgive those who have hurt us we won’t “liberate our soul” or be able to keep on with our life.
Francois Pienaar: “Times change, we need to change as well.” Both sides need to change because it’s the only way to keep on.
Francois Pienaar starts to try to change his team. By reading the “Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika” song.
4. What did François Pienaar learn from Nelson Mandela? What motivations do you think Pienaar has for risking his position as the captain when he starts developing his relationship to Mandela?
François Pienaar from our point of view learns a lot more from Mandela than he loses. In his team not all of his partners agree with him on having a relationship with Mandela. They even say “Who is this talking? You or Mandela?. Pienaar is risking a lot when he is being influenced by Mandela because the moment they are living in the team and politically is very weak and can