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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…
