The Way We Get by: Critic Reviews

Unfailingly modest and profoundly humane.

Watching them issue hugs produces an involuntary response. You want to hug them, too.

Gaudet has a hard time extending his material to feature length.

It is straightforward work. Yet over time, it becomes clearly, steadfastly about the existential.

Although it has affecting moments, the film can't quite decide whether it's about aging or about the effects of war on the home front, and its modest scale is more appropriate for TV than the big screen.

Aron Gaudet's film rages with quiet dignity against the dying of the light.

Bring your handkerchiefs.

The earnest documentary is filled with many small moments that are heartfelt.

plucks every heartstring but never in a manipulative or maudlin way.

Both a moving testament to the elderly folks who meet the troops and an interesting look at the troops themselves.

A poignant and lovingly constructed documentary ... and, even though it doesn't wear its politics on its sleeve, it is quite a patriotic picture.

I can't recall when I last noticed such a lovely and distinct color palette used in a documentary...a poetic reflection on man facing his mortality.

This is a nice documentary about nice people who are doing a nice thing.

These remarkable individuals contribute to a story that is not just indescribably moving but is a timeless metaphor for our country.

A heartfelt, mildly fascinating documentary that lacks sufficient insight to keep you thoroughly intrigued and enlightened.

The Way We Get By stays focused on the greeters' mix of loneliness and determination, the pleasure of feeling needed and the pain of growing old.

Contains more useful, homespun philosophizing and genuine sentiment than a year's worth of narrative films. That it's so well made is a bonus.

The Way We Get By is neither pro- nor anti-war; it's a somber study of perpetually unsettled lives.

Though Aron Gaudet's documentary never quite captures the relieved atmosphere of these homecomings, it does acknowledge the dark side of a cheery platitude: those on both sides of the divide are in need of healing.

A beautiful, affecting documentary with an appropriately sweet original sound track.

An extraordinary documentary that celebrates the heroism and the spiritual practice of kindness in the lives of three elders who serve as troop greeters in Bangor, Maine.

With empathetic reserve only sullied by occasional lapses into cross-cutting and musical italicizing, The Way We Get By equates the sadness of war and aging.

It's a beautiful, heartfelt movie about people overcoming their own difficulties to make a positive impact on the lives of others.

I adored every frame of this movie and every person in it.