A MILLION MILES AWAY - Mark Reviews Movies

A Million Miles Away, Amazon Studios

Follow on Facebook | Follow on Twitter | Become a Patron

Review by Mark Dujsik | September 14, 2023

Sometimes, it's just a pleasant thing to be reminded that dreams can come true, that good and decent people can be rewarded, and that there might just be something to the concept of the American Dream. That's somewhat the case with A Million Miles Away, an inspiring, based-on-true-life story about a man who was a migrant farmworker as a child, had dreams of becoming an astronaut, earned a pair of engineering degrees, and worked as hard as he could to be accepted into NASA.

At this point in the general description of this story, it's probably obvious how José M. Hernández's career ambitions turned out, and if there is a broad issue with this movie, it's that the ending feels like a certainty and not a matter of the kind of doubt that defines so much of the subject's journey. It's tough to become too invested in the man's story when co-writer/director Alejandra Márquez Abella's movie seems in such a rush to cover as much of Hernández's story and to get to as many inspirational points as possible.

Basically, this story, adapted from Hernández's autobiography Reaching for the Stars, is more about its destination than the journey to arrive there. There's still a benefit to that, to be sure, especially in a case such as this one. We do watch José—played as a kid by Juan Pablo Monterrubio and by Michael Peña from the character's early 20s through his late 30s, in a slightly distracting choice—struggle with circumstances, with prejudice against his ethnicity, with the challenges of being noticed by NASA, with balancing family and his ambitions, and, finally, with the grueling process of actually training to go into space.

The whole time, though, we're fully aware that all of this will be worth it and just a series of bumps on the road. One could argue that the bumps are more interesting and definitely more relatable than, well, this movie's destination, which is almost certainly close to a million-to-one shot that the majority of people will never experience. That it happened for Hernández is at least some kind of hope for everyone else, so that's something.

It seems so unlikely when we meet a 7-year-old José, the son of Mexican immigrant parents, father Salvador (Julio Cesar Cedillo) and mother Julia (Veronica Falcón), who travel up and down California on the weekends with their children to work various fields. José has trouble keeping up with school work and staying awake in class on account of the schedule.

His teacher Miss Young (Michelle Krusiec) sees something in this kid from his dedication and his curious mind, planting the idea in Salvador's mind that José needs some stability if he's to flourish in his future. The movie's most affecting moment, by the way, allows that student-teacher relationship to pay off at a moment in the story when much larger concerns are on its mind. The screenplay, written by the director along with Bettina Gilois and Hernán Jiménez, certainly knows how and when to tug on those heartstrings, but this scene in particular, especially since it occurs in the middle of the climax, gives us a sense that it actually does care about who helps José on the way to the ending of this story—not just what gets him there.

To be clear, most of this tale is about what happens, from José graduating college, getting a job at national research facility (where he's initially task with making photocopies and mistaken for a janitor), meeting and marrying and starting a sizeable family with Adela (Rosa Salazar), and applying to NASA's astronaut program every year, with a rejection letter arriving each and every time. His cousin Beto (Bobby Soto), who's still a farmworker, believes in José, offering up some inspirational words upon every one of their meetings. As soon as Adela realizes that her husband is serious about becoming an astronaut, she puts her own dreams on hold, so that the family's finances can be put toward some extracurricular training that will look good on his application.

It's a fine story—more than that, when one really considers how much, as in the stuff that a two-hour movie can't be bothered to show, the real Hernández would have had to overcome to accomplish his goal. There's no denying that, but the movie leaves one wanting just a bit more—in terms of acknowledging doubt instead of seeing it as a brief obstacle, of examining how difficult José's determination is on his wife and kids (There are, maybe, two scenes that hint at it), and of how much work must be done but isn't transformed into a montage.

Its shortcomings, with the movie's less-than-effective visual effects (not vital, since the story is grounded for the most part, but noticeable as soon as they become necessary) being one beyond those other issues, are highlighted, because there's so much potential here. A Million Miles Away wants first and foremost to be a feel-good movie, and the broad strokes of this true-life tale accomplish that, for sure, while some quieter moments that focus on the character and his circle of support feel even better. It's a movie, though, that mainly deals in broad strokes, when even just a little more specificity about the man, his family, and the challenges he faces could go a long way.

Back to Home

Buy Related Products

Buy the Book

Buy the Book (Kindle Edition)