A One Mann’s Movies review of “A Million Miles Away” (2023).
New on Prime Video, “A Million Miles Away” tells the inspiring true story of Jose Hernandez (Michael Peña). Jose is an immigrant farm worker with dreams to travel to the stars.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
The Hernandez family live a shiftless existence as poor Mexican immigrant farm workers. They pick crops for American tables and follow the work where it takes them. This has an impact on the education of the kids in the family, especially Jose who seems incredibly gifted. His father instills in him a desire to achieve a goal. Young Jose’s goal, inspired by the Apollo 11 mission is Space.
Certification:
UK: PG; US: PG. (From the BBFC web site: “Mild bad language, threat”).
Talent:
Starring: Michael Peña, Rosa Salazar, Julio Cesar Cedillo, Bobby Soto, Michelle Krusiec, Verónica Falcón.
Directed by: Alejandra Márquez Abella.
Written by: Bettina Gilois, Hernán Jiménez & Alejandra Márquez Abella.
Twitter Handle: #Official_AMMA.
“Based on a True Story”. Michael Peña and the real Jose Fernandez. (Source: Amazon Studios).
“A Million Miles Away” Review:
Positives:
- Highly inoffensive, this is a generally a feelgood biopic (with a few real-life bumps). It’s about having a dream and ‘going for it’. It also nicely reflects the pivotal role that some teachers can have on the direction of a young person’s life. There’s a genuinely touching moment at one point that inexpicably generated a lot of dust in the room.
- The use of music, by Camilo Lara, is brilliant with an interesting soundtrack and some very well-chosen songs. Starting a film with “California Dreaming” (in Spanish, transitioning to English as they crossed the Mexican border) was a master-stroke that had me going “Yes!” from the word go! Then there are a whole range of different bangin’ tunes as we progress through the ages.
- Michael Peña is always solidly reliable in all his films. Here he carries the lead role effortlessly, as does Rosa Salazar as his wife Adela. (If, as I was, you are trying to place Salazar, she played “Alita: Battle Angel” in CGI form in that Sci-Fi film of a few years back).
- You’ve gotta love that old trope of showing pictures of the real people at the end of the film. This one doesn’t disappoint!
Negatives:
- The film doesn’t take any risks in its telling. It is all hugely predicable and linear as a rags to riches story.
- Given that the film takes place over many years, there appears to have been no effort to ‘youngify’ or age Jose (and indeed Adela) during the film. You have never seen a less believable college graduate! Then, his appearance at the end of the film is virtually unchanged!
- There are a few script mis-steps along the way. Some of the rah-rah speeches didn’t ring true for me; at a key moment having a field full of crop-workers look up to the sky felt horribly inept; and the titled ‘steps’ to success, laid out by Salvador (Julio Cesar Cedillo), don’t neatly fit the action and felt contrived and unnecessary.
Triggers
This is a family film, that would actually be good to watch with kids (probably 7 or 8 and above). It gives a strong message about establishing a dream and then putting in the work to try to get there. However, I will point out, for those of a sensitive nature, that there are some deaths in the film. One relating to a character in the movie, and another through a well-known historic event.
Summary Thoughts on “A Million Miles Away”
There are precious few films that cross my desk these days that fall into the “family watch” category. But this is one of them. A solid, but inspirational, biopic that does what it says on the can, without doing much more. Well worth a watch for a family movie night, you can find it on Prime Video.
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Trailer for “A Million Miles Away”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-HcUuiLzR8.
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