Independent Film Festival Boston 2009

Director Aron Gaudet in attendance.

The majority of U.S. troops serving in Iraq pass through Bangor International Airport. For those who do land there, it is either their last sight of America before they begin their tour, or their first sight of it as they return home. The Maine Troop Greeters are an unofficial, volunteer group of veterans and other local citizens who make the effort to be at the terminal whenever planes carrying troops land, to send them off, to welcome them home, and to thank them for their service.

“The Way We Get By” explores the personal stories of three of these greeters, Bill Knight, Joan Gaudet, and Jerry Mundy. We discover the different motivations that brought them to this work, the challenge of coming to the airport at all hours of day and night, and the rewards of being able to offer aid and comfort to those who need it.

While America’s relationship to our soldiers is one subject of the film, the lives of those featured bring other matters to the forefront, as well. All three focal individuals are senior citizens, and a key theme of the film is the variety of physical, financial, and emotional difficulties that elders face in this country today. The many kinds of loss that old age brings are rendered vividly. In time it becomes clear that, as much the Greeters’ presence means to the troops, the opportunity to be there means just as much to Bill, Joan, and Jerry.

The film raises difficult questions, but it is no jeremiad; the ultimate message is one of potential, not of doom. This is a film about small-town folks and, fittingly, it displays the best qualities of small towns: honesty, pragmatism, and faith in the power of kindness and community. In the case of THE WAY WE GET BY, that faith is validated by first-hand evidence of how service to others can be a reward as well as a gift.

- Kyle Parrish

Screening supported by Women In Film & Video/ New England