A Million Miles Away is an inspirational true story of perseverance, sacrifice, and family while in pursuit of an out-of-this-world dream.

The story of Jose Hernandez exemplifies the American dream in all its best facets. A migrant farmer at the young age of seven, Henandez’s early life was a constant cycle of relocating with his family from town to town to secure work picking crops across California’s farmlands.

When Jose’s parents Salvador (Julio Cesar Cedillo) and Julia (Veronica Falcon) realised their nomad lifestyle was debilitating the education of their intellectually gifted son, the family settled in Stockton, California, where young Jose would pursue his dream of “flying a rocket into space”, the result of watching the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing.

It is a dream in that A Million Miles Away presents as a 30-year-old journey of hard work, sacrifice, perseverance, and the importance of a support system to motivate and inspire during those dark days of rejection and regret. Told chronologically, A Million Miles Away has an additional narrative structure in the form of Salvador’s “Five Step Recipe to Success” which advocates for knowledge, tenacity, and humility.

Director Alejandra Marquez Abella (Northern Skies Over Empty Space) presents Jose’s story with a mix of dream-like whimsy and grounded drama, the latter represented in the constant hard-knock reality checks of a young Mexican-American working in the white-bread world of the science and military intelligence sector circa 1980s. Vital as well is the representation of Hernandez’s Mexican heritage in the form of music, language, and the love and virtues of a hard working blue collar family.

Michael Pena delivers one of his best performances as Hernandez, portraying the man as an at times awkward yet wholly sweet family man whose towering intelligence is anchored by a humility that is endearing.

Many of Pena’s best scenes is shared with Rosa Salazar who plays Jose’s wife Adela. The chemistry between the two is strong, as is the portrayal of their marriage, with Adela the rock, the soul, and the caregiver to a growing brood of children as Jose’s pursuit of reaching the heavens often finds him leaving the angels of his family.

Jose Hernandez’s story portrays how a dream can become a reality not only through individual self-determination, but the support of a community. The stars may be A Million Miles Away, yet the journey begins with the first step of many.