Where I Watched It: Amazon

English Audio Description?: Yes

There’s a point in A Million Miles Away when the two people of color in the space program at NASA have an exchange where they recognize the significance of their participation in this. For little kids who look like them, who grew up in similar circumstances, to see someone like them do a job previously not done by a person of color, it acknowledges the new potential to dream farther and think bigger. That is what the heart of this film tries to push through.

By telling the true story of an astronaut who grew up as a child of migrant workers, and who spent a lot of time of his own in the fields, and that biopic tale of adversity against all odds just like so many other films of this ilk. Michael pena has the unenviable task of bringing this real life hero to the big screen, but he’s doing it in a movie headed straight for amazon without passing Go and collecting a theatrical release.

Sadly, despite a charismatic performance, A Million miles Away can’t set itself apart from anything like it, because it strives for just simply passing along a story, and not the greatness that Jose actually was striving for. For a film about the stars, it certainly isn’t looking up.

As an example, during the childhood part of this biopic, we see a young boy with a lot of promise, and a teacher who sees that potential but is concerned that constantly moving around the child (because, migrant work) is not good for his educational growth. So she sets up a meeting with his parents. Up until this point, these characters have spoken Spanish, which gets translated (dubbed) for us in the audio description. When the parents arrive, young Jose is tasked with translating what the teacher is saying to his parents, and vice versa. Now, he doesn’t translate verbatim, and adds some flair because he obviously wants to stay in school.

However, for comedic effect, and not for any sort of desire to make a coherent film, the scene ends with his father standing up and speaking to the teacher in pretty perfect English. it isn’t even broken. He’s not struggling. he speaks pretty solid English. It’s something that I’m sure made people laugh, but it’s lazy filmmaking. The kid has lived with his dad his entire life, and this scene suggests that for 8 or 9 years, his dad has pretended to not know any English, even around his son, so he could one day surprise everyone. It’s a preposterous presentation meant to get a laugh, but just diminishes the quality of the scene. Perhaps if his father had struggled to respond, not quite formulating perfect sentences, or finding the right words, it would have paid off. But, no, dad speaks flawless English.

It’s that kind of clunky filmmaking we get with this. The audio description did a good job, and I’m glad it was there because while I can speak a little Spanish, it’s never been enough to conversationally survive through a Spanish language title. Too much and I certainly would have heard words i didn’t know.

I think the film has its heart in the right place, trying to tell a story of achievement, and Pena does solid work living up to the expectations. but I’d be lying if I said this was perfect, or likely to even be remembered ten years from now. I hope in the short period of time this movie is important on Amazon that it does reach some kids and tell them that their dreams are not a million miles away, but very much right in front of them. Representation is everything, I just wish it came with a better screenplay and director.

Final Grade: B-