Too often do we
focus on “firsts” to judge whether or not something is inspiring. The first
person to get the top of Mt. Everest, the first woman to fly solo over the
Atlantic, the first man on the moon. As I sat down to watch A Million
Miles Away I assumed it would be about the first Mexican-American to
go to space. This turned out not to be the case (it was actually Franklin Chang
Diaz), but Jose “The First Migrant Worker in Space" Hernandez's
story is no less inspirational, even if the movie based on his life is not as ambitious
as the man himself.
A Million Miles Away stars
Michael Pena as Jose Hernandez and Rosa Salazar as his wife Adela, a pair that
make for some very easy viewing. Their chemistry is genuine and their
performances are heartfelt and well done, as are those of everyone else in
their orbit. A Million Miles Away is strongest when it focuses
on the family dynamics of the Hernandez clan, affectionately showing that when
one person excels it is usually with the help of many unseen and sometimes
underappreciated coaches and cheerleaders. The performances and focus
give A Million Miles Away an irresistible emotional core to
its quintessential American Dream narrative, a core that sustains it when
another movie might have started running on fumes.
If the film sags it is because of its
script, which is not as interesting as it could have been. The dialogue is fine
but not particularly snappy, a fact that can be easy to overlook when you have
people like Pena and Salazar delivering the lines. And while it may closely
resemble reality, the fact that Hernandez’s journey is so prototypical of the
pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps tale that has enthralled hopeful immigrants
for generations also means that the film sometimes feels like a cliché, or at
least has moments that feel cliché. This might seem a bit unfair to real-life
events, but even the narrative embellishments have an air of familiarity (How
many times have we seen a butterfly metaphor in films like this? I feel like
it’s a lot). Some additional time fleshing out the relationships between Jose
and those close to him might have been nice as well, because while family is
the driving force of this film it also feels oddly secondary, at least when
compared to Hernandez’s ultimate goal of going to space. All of this is
to say that A Million Miles Away doesn’t take any chances from
a movie-making standpoint, instead mostly letting its sentimentality speak for
itself.
But speak for itself it does. A
Million Miles Away is a good time that will remind you that when you
shoot for the stars you sometimes just might make it there. It’s sometimes
overly fluffy and sometimes doesn’t have much substance under the surface, but
it has its heart in the right place, and that’s enough for me.
A Million Miles Away is now
available on Amazon Prime.
This review was first published in the
Keizertimes on September 29th, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com.
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