Written and directed by Aron Gaudet; cinematography by Dan Ferrigan; music by Zack Martin
With: Joan Gaudet, William Knight, and Gerald Mundy. Unrated. 92 minutes
At Railroad Square Cinema in Waterville, Maine
From May 1, 2009 through May 7, 2009

Aron Gaudet’s The Way We Get By is a Maine-made film about a group of Mainers-mostly senior citizens-who have dedicated themselves to providing a heartfelt final farewell to America’s troops on their way to Iraq and Afghanistan and a warm grateful welcome to the troops on their initial arrival on American soil after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. These individuals are the troop greeters who meet outgoing and incoming troop flights in Bangor at the last and first in-country stop for most American military troop transport flights. Generally, Maine’s location as the nation’s most northeasterly state has not provided much advantage to the state, but for showing our appreciation for our young people’s military service, our concern for their well-being, and our joy for their safe return-Maine is ideally situated.

Yet the film does not bear a title like Cheering the Troops or Hospitality Bangor or Celebrating America’s Warriors. It is The Way We Get By, which places the focus less on the troops and more on the people who have undertaken this task of making sure that no troops arrive in Bangor feeling an indifferent or even hostile reception as has frequently been charged for those arriving back from Vietnam. The film focuses on three elderly Mainers: Bill Knight, Joan Gaudet, and Jerry Mundy. Each of these three is a unique individual who has his and her own perspective on why it is important to greet the troops, and each is facing their own struggle of being old in America. These are people who have lost spouses and friends, have health problems, need to change their lifestyle, and find that their families no longer need them the way they once did.

Aron Gaudet and his team have been able to elicit an openness and candor from the film’s subjects that is extraordinarily intimate. Yes, it probably does help that one of his subjects is his own mother. (Though filming one’s own family members doesn’t always work that way). The film shows not only how the troops respond to the greeters during their brief stops in Maine at all hours of the day and night but also how reaching out to the young men and women who serve in the military has changed the lives of these three older Americans. It aptly demonstrates how giving of one’s self to someone else gives as much or even more back to the one making the gift. For the three subjects, it has provided a sharpened sense of purpose at a time of their lives when there often seems little point in living.

These are three people who seem quite ordinary but who are truly wonderful to get to know. Another key contribution that this film makes is that it refrains from taking a political stand on the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, and, by doing so, it reminds us that the men and women who have served there belong to us regardless of whether or not we support the decision-making that resulted in their service there. “Supporting the troops” can and should transcend endorsement of the decision to go to war. The film’s screening was a special event with the director Aron Gaudet and cinematographer Dan Ferrigan as well as the film’s three “stars” in attendance. The film attracted a full house and was very well received even by those who had misgivings about the film owing to their personal opposition to the decision to invade Iraq. This is a special film-arguably the best film made in Maine in quite some time-that has the capacity to bind up wounds across generations and across the divide created by the war itself.