A Million Miles Away Parent Guide

The child of Mexican migrant workers, José Hernandez (Juan Pablo Monerrubio) has his hands in the soil and his heart in the stars. After watching the Apollo 11 mission, José yearns to become an astronaut. Luckily for José, his elementary school teacher, Ms. Young (Michelle Krusiec), recognizes his intellectual gifts and urges his parents to settle down, instead of repeatedly uprooting their children’s education as they travel from farm to farm.

With a more stable childhood, José (now played by Michael Peña) thrives, graduates from university and lands a job as an engineer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a federally funded research institution. He marries the vivacious Adelia (Rosa Salazar) and has five children but can’t forget his dream of going to space. Multiple NASA rejections behind him, Jose sets out to do everything he can to make it to the stars.

Because A Million Miles Away is an inspirational biopic, viewers know that it will end well, as José achieves his dream and makes his family and community proud. The real surprise here – and what makes this film valuable - is the amount of failure and pain José and his family encounter along the way. As José begins his engineering career, he must deal with casual racism and a constant discounting of his abilities. He keeps upgrading his skills but encounters almost a dozen rejections from NASA before he’s finally accepted for astronaut training – and he still flounders during the training course. José’s experience is a valuable example of the part failure plays on the road to success and parents will appreciate José’s role as a poster child for resilience, persistence, and unremitting hard work.

Awash in positive messages, this movie also highlights the critical role of family and community support. The familiar saying “It takes a village to raise a child” can be adapted to fit José’s reality: “It takes a village to raise an astronaut”. His success is built on the devotion of his parents, the unfailing support of his wife (who delays her dreams to support his), and the unwitting sacrifices of his children, who give up time with their father so he can train. (He even misses the birth of one child, an almost incomprehensible loss to me.) Despite his setbacks, José is able to keep trying because he has such a tightly woven support structure catching him when he falls.

Not only is the movie full of positive messages, it’s almost devoid of negative content. There are a few scenes of social drinking, a smattering of minor profanities, and some tragic deaths that occur off screen. It’s a relief that a film full of family-friendly messaging isn’t rendered unsuitable by sexual innuendo or profanity. Whether you’re looking for a movie about overcoming adversity, or combating prejudice, or appreciating families, or reaching for a dream, this is a great choice. Even if you just want something to inspire your kids, turn on A Million Miles Away, pop the popcorn, and settle down on the couch together. You won’t regret it.