A Million Miles Away Is Based on an Inspirational True Story

It also touches on the prejudice immigrants often face

My Mom and I recently watched A Million Miles Away on Amazon Prime. I highly recommend this movie.

It is based on the true life story of José Moreno Hernández. He and his family were immigrant farm workers from Mexico. Despite the many obstacles he faced, he became a NASA astronaut who flew on the space shuttle.

Mom and I loved how inspirational the story was. We enjoyed the acting, the cinematography, and also the music, which was often in Spanish. The emphasis on family resonated with us as Indian culture also values close family ties.

Another thing that resonated with me — Hernández was not treated with respect when he started at his first job, at Lawrence Livermore Labs.

This was obviously because he did not speak perfect English. Unfortunately, immigrants are sometimes not perceived as intelligent because of their accents.

I have seen this play out in my own life.

A friend of mine who immigrated from China got a PhD in math, but was sometimes treated like an idiot because of his heavy accent.

And my own father experienced this. He had a Master’s degree from MIT but he still had to work harder in order to “prove himself” because of his Indian accent.

In times past, Irish immigrants, Russian Jews, Italians, Puerto Ricans… many immigrant groups have experiences these types of issues.

What makes the movie so inspirational is it shows how Hernández overcame all of the obstacles in his path to achieve his dream. It provides immigrant kids a hero that can give us hope.

And its message is so important for all of us, because we all sometimes face hardships that tempt us to give up. But if our dreams matter, then we need to persevere.

I am fighting stage IV cancer. If you would like to help with medical bills, I would really appreciate it. Or if you enjoy my writing and would like to buy me a cup of coffee, that’s great too. Maybe someday I can return the favor.