Biopics come in many shapes and sizes.  Sometimes they come as inspirational sports films or musical films about famous singers and or innovators but occasionally they come as true stories masquerading as biopics. That’s the case with A Million Miles Away. It’s the true story of a migrant farmworker turned scientist and eventually astronaut from Stockton, California starring Michael Pena.

Jose Hernandez (Juan Pablo Monterrubio, Michael Pena) is a young man who is brought up by his hard-working parents as a farmworker. They work the vegetable fields from the crack of dawn to sunset to afford to build a house of their own. This doesn’t leave much time for him or his cousin to go to school. When they do go to school he is the smartest student in class or he’s sleeping from exhaustion.  His teacher notices his intelligence and tries to talk to his parents about what she believes his future should be.

This film isn’t the typical kind of biopic though. Because it’s about a Mexican immigrant it uses Spanish subtitles at times and it has some archival footage of shuttle launches from television stations and news broadcasts. These show some of the things that inspire the young and eventually older Jose to want to become an astronaut. The mix of these two styles works well for the story that is being told. 

Michael Pena has become an actor who has fallen through the cracks as someone most people don’t take seriously as an actor. He usually does comedic rules in MCU films or plays a supporting role in other types of films or television shows such as the most recent season of Jack Ryan on Prime Video. He gets a lot of laughs in these comedic roles but he is a good dramatic actor when given the choice. In this film, he doesn’t have to stretch his acting ability very far but he still does excellent work as the farmworker turned astronaut. 

This film takes place at various times. It starts in the ’70s, when the Apollo 11 launch is what inspired Jose to become an astronaut, and goes to the ’80 when we see the Challenger explosion with his trainer aboard. And shortly thereafter he gets his dream of becoming an astronaut. The writers Bettina Gilois, Hernan Jimenez, and others adapt this story from the book about this man. The film uses chapters in the form of ingredients which is how Jose’s father refers to their lives.  It is an innovative style of storytelling. 

The production design is pretty cool because the filmmaker Alejandra Marquez Abella tried to do his best to recreate the various periods that this film takes place in and NASA during the 80s. Along with that, he has to age the Jose character up and he does age quite nicely throughout the movie. These aspects help make the film and story all the more believable.  The makeup and hairstyling is a key element to the authenticity of the overall story.

Even though Pena and the young man who plays Jose as a child are the key players in this story, the supporting cast compliments them quite nicely.  Rosa Salazar plays Jose’s wife and she is excellent as a wife raising their children and a supportive spouse for her husband’s dreams. Garret Dellahunt plays an instructor at NASA. At first, he doesn’t believe this man has what it takes to become an astronaut but eventually, he starts to believe in him and becomes his ally in his dream. Also, Julio Cesar Cedillo as Jose’s father is terrific. At first, he is an overbearing parent who thinks of the family and the dream of building a home of their own but he comes around in the end to become a happy father from what his son has accomplished.  He does a great job in this role. The supporting cast of the movie is very good.

A Million Miles Away isn’t the typical biopic. It has an interesting way of telling its story and showing the inspiration of why this man is so driven to become an astronaut and change people’s minds about Mexican Americans and migrant farmworkers. The cast is excellent, especially Pena. The storytelling and archival footage bring an interesting style to the biopic genre. As this one isn’t about sports or a musician/band it’s very well done. It’s bound to be an inspirational story for Mexican Americans. This was a really good film. There is nothing more I can say.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen