“triumph of the human spirit” … What does that mean?

In 2010, the eyes of the world turned to Chile, where 33 miners had been buried alive by the catastrophic explosion and collapse of a 100-year-old gold and copper mine. Over the next 69 days, an international team worked night and day in a desperate attempt to rescue the trapped men as their families and friends, as well as millions of people globally, waited and watched anxiously for any sign of hope. But 200 stories beneath the surface, in the suffocating heat and with tensions rising, provisions—and time—were quickly running out. A story of resilience, personal transformation and triumph of the human spirit, the film takes us to the Earth’s darkest depths, revealing the psyches of the men trapped in the mine, and depicting the courage of both the miners and their families who refused to give up. Based on the gripping true story of survival—and filmed with the cooperation of the miners, their families and their rescuers.

I underlined some of the text from an ad for the movie - The 33.

The question is - where did this courage, resilience, and transformation come from?  

In other words, what is the triumph of the human spirit all about?

One of the most telling scenes from the movie about how to answer that question had to do with believing what we choose to believe.  One of the lines in that conversation is from Mario (the character played by Antonio Banderas) -

I believe we'll make it out of here because I choose to believe it.

But then that begs another question - where does that belief come from?
I suppose the answer to that is somewhat circular - in that it comes largely from things we already believe.

So - where do I think the "triumph of the human spirit" came from in the movie?

• At first, it comes from the men in the mine - and their own strength.  
  They think they'll get out because of their own abilities and those of the men above who will be working to free them.
• The wives of the miners and other family members have a similar feeling -
  that if they stay there and draw attention to what happened - the company will have to get them out.
• Then we see the wives praying to God.  
  Because the men aren't getting out on their own - and the people above ground aren't getting them out either.  
  Realizing that just their presence isn't going to do it.  They need divine help.  
  And their "human spirit" is strengthened by praying and belief that God will intervene.
• Then we see some of the miners praying.  Same issues - they need divine help.

When things are looking really bad - like nothing's going to happen (but of course we know exactly what did happen) - a "coincidence" occurs.
The minister of mining is talking to one of the family members - and something comes to him because "we learn from our mistakes".

What coincidences are about depends on what you choose to believe about them.  

I read one time that coincidences are God acting anonymously. Well - from that conversation the mining minister coincidentally gets the answer to the problem of how to reach the miners.
The "human spirit" all on it's own?  Or the "human spirit" bolstered by the "Holy Spirit" to learn from the previous drilling mistakes and reach the miners on the very next drilling attempt?

One interesting thing portrayed in the movie has to do with what happens after rescue seems likely.  It's like a circus - a phrase from the movie - above ground.  People are even selling souvenirs.  God seems to be disappearing from the conversation.  Below ground - the same is happening.  No more praying - it's down to conflicts between the men.  

God is being forgotten.

And isn't that something we all do.

So now the big question - where did the strength of the "human spirit come from?

Was it from the people themselves - all on their own?

Was it from the God that they seem to be forgetting about?

Will they learn from the mistake of forgetting about God?

For them - they needed God one more time before the miners could get out.  The very first attempt at getting one of the men above ground in the capsule looks like it's going to fail.  It gets stuck.  The "human spirit", by itself, isn't enough.  More praying.  The second attempt goes fine.  As do the remaining 32 rescues.

Did they learn from their mistake of forgetting God?

Yes - they did.

As the very last miner was being rescued, we see the writing on the wall -

God was with us