5 Life Ingredients from A Million Miles Away written by the Ent. This post contains affiliate links, you can find out more on our policies page or in the disclaimer at the bottom of the blog.
Know Before You Watch
Movie: A Million Miles Away
Rating: PG
Genre: Historical, Biography, Drama
Length: 2 hrs. 1 min.
Age suggested: 10 and up (younger if they are interested in the subject matter)
Streaming Service: Amazon Prime
Release Date: September 15th, 2023
Warnings: Mild language, death of family member and friends, mild allusions alcohol. Overall, nothing hugely inappropriate.
Quick A Million Miles Away Summary
A Million Miles Away tells the story of José Hernandez. José is an engineer who desires to be an astronaut, but he isn’t sure if he can overcome his own doubts and fears. Through family and community, he perseveres and sees if he can truly follow his dreams.
A Million Miles Away Review
(Contains Mild Spoilers)
The story of José Hernandez is one that is really interesting and plays very well on film. José’s character throughout the film is consistently persevering and in the moments where he falters, his community comes around him and supports him. The story is pretty straight forward, but not without conflict and obstacles. They entire story revolves around what an underdog José is and how incredible it is that he does overcome them. This is seen so impactfully when the full weight of the Challenger explosion is felt by friends and the people who were left to continue exploration.
Related Content: What Happened to the Characters from A Million Miles Away
The acting in this movie is really well done. Michael Peña plays the awkward yet smart engineer very well. You see how this affects not only his career, but also his personal life. The other two stand outs to me were Rosa Salazar (Adela) and Garrett Dillahunt (Sturckow), who both play off their settings and José very well to ultimately tell such a motivating story.
Continue reading for the 5 Life Ingredients from A Million Miles Away
A Million Miles Away Discussion Questions
Themes to Discuss: Perseverance, Sacrifice, Community, Desiring approval, Pride, Overcoming prejudice
- What did José learn through his journey to get into space?
- What dream do you have for the future?
- What support did José have throughout his life?
- How does José’s desire for approval affect José’s outlook through life and the astronaut process?
- Special project: Go through the ingredients listed above (from José’s father) for your own life?
Continue reading for the 5 Life Ingredients from A Million Miles Away
Favorite A Million Miles Away Quotes
What would it happen if he had a tree, planted it, watered it, cared for it, but then dug it up and replanted it every year, again and again? How would that tree grow?
This may not be your future, but it will always be your past.
I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to put you through the Spanish Inquisition.
You’ve got a beautiful family who loves you and puts up with your crap. What more do you want, man?
I refuse to be the oblivious, permanently annoyed, whining wife. So don’t put me there.
Those people who got into the program the last six years, what do they have that you don’t?
The atmosphere looks like ribbons of different colors hugging the earth and it looks so fragile.
Such a small planet with so much going on
We think we control everything. Our lives, our dreams. We get exhausted. We make sacrifices. We think its about wanting it hard enough, but life is mysterious, you know?
Once that ignition sequence starts, we only have each other.
Do you know how important it is that someone like you or I hop on this ride?
Tenacity is a superpower.
Who better to leave this planet and dive into the unknown but a migrant farmworker?
You listen to me. You go and you come back…safely. Please. You’ve had love. You’ve had chances. People have believed in you.
-A Million Miles Away Quotes
5 Life Ingredients from A Million Miles Away
In the beginning of the movie, José’s dad tells him the ingredients on how he overcomes obstacles in his life and perseveres. This becomes the outline of the movie jumping in time and focusing on different ingredients throughout the story.
Ingredient 1- Find Your Goal
This is the obvious starting point. Know what you want so that you can build off of that. Even in the movie, the dad accuses José of not completing this ingredient because he didn’t actually know what he wanted.
Ingredient 2- Know How Far You Are
The way José’s dad initially introduces this concept is by saying “Look where you’re standing. How far you still need to go”. This is the assessment portion of the process. Have you started your journey? Starting fresh? Almost done? This is where that will be determined.
Ingredient 3- Draw A Roadmap
After determining where you are, it is important to create a path from there to where you want to go. This is where your community may come in to help support you on your path.
Ingredient 4- If You Don’t Know How, Learn
This is such an important piece of advice no matter what you want to do. So many people are scared to say “I don’t know”. This is important for personal growth and improvement.
Ingredient 5- When You Think You’ve Made It, You Probably Have to Work Harder
This is how to always push yourself forward. This will prevent you from becoming stagnant while maintaining passion for what you do.
A Special Note for Young Female Viewers
This movie tells an incredibly powerful and important story of what it takes to become an astronaut and following your dreams. I have a young daughter who wants to be an astronaut when she grows up. She is too young for this movie anyway (she would deem it “a boring adult movie”). One warning I would give for young female viewers of A Million Miles Away is that there is only one prominent female astronaut in this movie and she dies during the Colombia space flight
For some other great resources for young females who are dreaming of space, we would recommend the following:
–Hidden Figures Book and Movie
–Mae Among the Stars (Kids Book)
–Women in Space
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A woman doesn’t have to be a professional astronaut to be strong or have a prominent roll. Jose’s wife was strong because she knew how to care for her family and lead her family and her husband to better things. She made a sacrifice and didn’t give up on her dreams. That is what makes her a strong woman!!
I absolutely agree that there are several strong female characters in this film! I was more just trying to give warnings to parents of girls who may be interested in the film due to the child wanting to be an astronaut. Thanks for the opportunity to clarify!