The Way We Get By

L.A. Times Review: The Way We Get By

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times

“Filled with a rare honesty and intimacy that makes for a rewarding film experience.”

A selfless salute to the troops

"The Way We Get By," writer-director Aron Gaudet's deeply felt look at three selfless elderly Maine residents who serve as troop greeters at the Bangor International Airport (a gateway point of U.S. departure and entry), is filled with a rare honesty and intimacy that makes for a rewarding, if largely heartbreaking, film experience.

Gaudet respectfully profiles the waning lives of his mother, Joan Gaudet, 75, and her co-volunteers Jerry Mundy, 74, and Bill Knight, 87, who trek to the airport at all hours to welcome returning troops and bid goodbye to those leaving for Iraq and Afghanistan. These three widowed seniors' civic duties give their days a much-needed structure and purpose, along with a diversion from their financial, health and emotional setbacks. For the matriarchal Joan, these troubles include bad knees and worry over two grandchildren's imminent deployments to Iraq; for chatty Jerry, it's heart disease and the aging of his beloved dog; eccentric World War II veteran Bill must deal with cancer, massive debt and depression.

These everyday heroes, who never pass judgment on our nation's current war efforts, compellingly bare their souls here, facing their mortality as profoundly as do any of the soldiers they meet on a daily basis. Bring your handkerchiefs.

Gary Goldstein "The Way We Get By."

MPAA rating: Unrated.

Running time: 1 hour, 24 minutes.

At Laemmle's Music Hall, Beverly Hills.