(For Day 8 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem about a relationship between two people or things that should never have met. The encounter of an aspiring astronaut with the notoriously inhospitable vacuum of space seemed like a good odd couple to serve as inspiration.)
_________________________

Hello, space! I’ve waited.

You don’t know me, but I’m a fan.
I’ve loved you from afar.
You wink your stars at every man,
But only few can follow.
I know your history, your rules,
And where your dangers are.
But I can’t claim the finest schools
Or have much pride to swallow.

You’re wonderfully indifferent
To the differences in man.
You don’t say, “It’s an immigrant!
An indigent, so kill it!”
Oh, no, you want to kill us all
Quite equally, and can.
But knowing that will neither stall
Nor stop our trespass, will it?

I’ve only ever craved a chance
To challenge you up close,
To prove that I was worth your glance,
Your open invitation.
I dreamed the scheme at which they scoffed
And begged them more than most.
While they looked down, I looked aloft
To touch a constellation.

Hello, space! I made it.
_________________________

MPA rating:  PG

Hidden Figures became the gold standard for “inspiring true story of underrepresented group excelling and beating the odds,” particularly when it came to NASA. So perhaps that’s why A Million Miles Away didn’t make much of a splash upon its Amazon Prime Video release. It’s a shame, though, because this biopic of migrant-farm-worker-turned-astronaut José Hernández provides an exemplary dose of underdog aspiration and one of Michael Peña’s finest performances.

Hernández grew up in a migrant family picking grapes, but, through the wonder of Apollo 11 footage and the encouragement of a supportive teacher, the boy turns his gaze upward to the stars. Many people are forced to wait on their dreams, and the film shows how life goes on while Hernández made gradual steps toward being the person NASA wanted – meeting his wife Adela (excellent Rosa Salazar) and opening a restaurant even as he gets pilot experience and scuba certification. With his repeated applications and rejections to NASA’s training program, it’s a testament to the power of persistence, one that anyone with yet-distant dreams can admire.

A Million Miles Away excels as both space-program biopic and touching family drama, setting José’s achievements as the culmination of the journey to a better life undertaken by so many migrant workers. With its shuttle-era time period, it also prominently features the 2003 Columbia disaster, a tragedy rarely acknowledged in NASA-themed movies. Streaming releases are easy to write off as unworthy of big-screen attention, but this underdog story is well worth your time.

Best line: (José, to his cousin) “Who better than a migrant? Somebody that knows what it’s like to dive into the unknown. Who better than that… to dare leave this planet, man?”

Rank:  List Runner-Up (might be higher after a rewatch)

© 2024 S.G. Liput
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