Review: The Way We Get By (2009)

[Steve Rhodes]

THE WAY WE GET BY
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2009 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****):  ***

"Our boys got a raw deal when they came back from Vietnam," an aging World 
War II veteran says in THE WAY WE GET BY, a poignant and lovingly 
constructed documentary by Aron Gaudet.  The documentary, which works 
successfully on several levels, follows a group of "troop greeters" who do 
their volunteer work at the Bangor, Maine airport.  This airport, being the 
eastern most one in the country, has the largest number of arrivals and 
departures of troops fighting the Iraq War.

The film can be appreciated on at least three levels.  First, and most 
obvious, it follows troop greeters and shows the dedication of these 
octogenarians and nonagenarians who go out in the middle of freezing cold 
Maine nights to say hello or goodbye to the American troops who bravely 
fight for us.

Eschewing politics, the film rarely touches on whether the Iraq War was a 
good idea or not.  Instead, it takes it as a given that our soldiers are 
there, so the question is how best should we honor them. And, even though it 
doesn't wear its politics on its sleeve, it is quite a patriotic picture.

The film works on a second level, of course, in showing how much the 
soldiers appreciate the dedication and sincerity of the troop greeters and 
how they feel about their mission in the Armed Services of our country.  The 
greeters are there to do more that shake hands and express their 
appreciation.  They are also there to offer support, however they can, from 
free cell phone usage to being someone the soldiers can talk to.  The 
boundless goodwill and honest generosity of the greeters is palpable.

The final and ultimately the deepest level of the movie is its examination 
of the lives of the aging veterans of World War II and of the almost 
forgotten Korean War.  Some of them are coping okay logistically and 
emotionally.  But the one who provokes the strongest outpouring of sympathy 
from the audience is a guy who lives in squalor.  Literally bankrupting 
himself feeding his very large brood of cats, his lack of financial sense is 
matched by his inability to cope with the upkeep of his house.  Easily the 
saddest scene in the documentary for me was watching him walk on the floor 
of his house which was covered in hundreds of empty cat food cans.

But mainly the movie is an upbeat one with stirring and frankly quite 
patriotic images of old soldiers holding up signs such as "Welcome Home 
Heroes!" to greet the young warriors returning home from the battlefield.

Although the greeters realize that their time on this earth is coming to a 
close, they approach their mortality with a positive attitude and a good 
dose of humor.  "Everybody's got to die sometime," one vet says with an 
infectiously happy grin.  "Nobody got out of this world alive yet."

THE WAY WE GET BY runs 1:24.  The film is not yet rated but would probably 
be rated G and would be acceptable for all ages.

The film has played at several film festivals, winning many awards.  The 
release date for the movie has not yet been determined.  It was shown 
recently at the Camera Cinema Club (http://www.cameracinemas.com) of 
Campbell and San Jose.

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