BANGOR, Maine — As Aron Gaudet flew from New York City to Maine on Thursday morning, he was struck by the glimpses of television news he saw in the airport. News anchors questioned whether the terrorist events of Sept. 11, 2001, could ever happen again in the U.S, and discussed the vulnerability of the nation.
Yet a national effort to transform the day from one of sorrow into a celebration of volunteerism was somewhat comforting to Gaudet, he said. After all, volunteerism was the reason Gaudet, an Old Town native, was returning to Maine this week.
Gaudet will help premiere his prizewinning documentary about three Bangor International Airport troop greeters today at the Bangor Mall Cinemas, the first time the movie has been shown in the town in which it was mostly filmed.
The timing of the movie wasn’t lost on Gaudet, who directed the documentary “The Way We Get By.” The Friday premiere falls on the eighth anniversary of the attacks on New York and Virginia, and the first anniversary since President Barack Obama signed in April the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which for the first time recognizes Sept. 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
The troop greeters are known nationally for their activities at BIA. They gather at all hours of the day or night to cheer on troops as they enter or leave the U.S., offering a sweet treat or cell phone to make a phone call.
“I didn’t pay much attention to [volunteering] until I got to be a troop greeter,” said 74-year-old Bangor resident Jerry Mundy, another of the film’s subjects. “I just hope I represent them well.”
“The Way We Get By,” produced by Gita Pullapilly, will show at the Bangor Mall Cinemas at 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m., and 9:20 p.m. daily through Thursday, Sept. 17. Admission is the regular $6 for shows before 6 p.m. and all children’s and senior citizens’ tickets, and $8.25 for adults after 6 p.m.
For the first time anywhere in the country, DVD copies of the movie will be available for purchase for $20 at the theater. DVDs will go on sale nationally Nov. 3.
The film premiered in Maine last April at the Collins Center for the Arts in Orono and has shown in about 20 Maine cities and towns since.
“I’m glad for the people of Bangor that they’ll finally have a chance to see it,” said Bill Knight, 87, a Bangor resident who is one of the main subjects. “They’ve asked me when it was going to come here.”
In the film, Gaudet and Pullapilly document the stories of Knight, Mundy, and Gaudet’s mother, Bradley resident Joan Gaudet, 76, who find strength in volunteering with the troop greeters while dealing with their own struggles of post-retirement life.
Gaudet said first lady Michelle Obama’s stated priorities of encouraging troop support and community involvement match the film’s message.
“When the new administration started and we were putting the movie out, it was like, what better example than the troop greeters,” he said Thursday night during a Bangor Savings Bank sponsor reception at the theater complex off Stillwater Avenue. “They support the troops and they’re the perfect example of community involvement, of doing something small in Bangor, Maine, and having it affect people all around the country.”
“The Way We Get By” recently partnered with HandsOn Network, a national organization that aims to inspire volunteerism. The movie was screened in June as part of the National Conference on Volunteering and Service held in San Francisco.
Aron Gaudet, Pullapilly and Mundy appeared at that event, and Pullapilly and Mundy spoke after the film played.
“[The movie] aligns perfectly with our mission,” said Leigh Harper, an external affairs representative for Atlanta- and Washington, D.C.-based HandsOn. “At one point in the film, [Knight says he] feels he has outlived his usefulness as a person and all he can do is help others. He makes that statement, and we aim to help people change the world, and we feel this film inspires people to do that, so it does feel like a logical connection.”
The filmmakers and subjects have received standing ovations — and received strong reviews — at showings across the country. Gaudet said that in Maine alone around 2,250 people have seen it, and that number could exceed 10,000 by the end of the Bangor run.
“I’ve had a chance to see the movie, and for those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s just very powerful,” Bangor Savings Bank president James Conlon told the crowd Thursday. “It’s as much about the troop greeters [as it is] about Bangor and about growing old in Maine.”
Harper said HandsOn is part of an effort that will bring “The Way We Get By” to the new Capitol Hill Visitors Center in Washington, D.C., for a Sept. 30 screening for dignitaries such as members of Congress and White House staffers.
HandsOn, along with organizations Boston Cares and Operation Homefront, presented “The Way We Get By” on Aug. 27 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The showing featured members of the Army National Guard greeting volunteers, veterans and military families as they walked into the screening.
L.A. Works, an affiliate of HandsOn, was host to an Aug. 14 event in which cast members from the AMC television show “Mad Men” joined HandsOn and L.A. Works volunteers, along with military families and veterans, for the red-carpet premiere of “The Way We Get By” in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Meanwhile, the movie continues to play in theaters all over the country. The same week as the Bangor run, “The Way We Get By” also will be showing in Plymouth, Mass., Providence, R.I., and Newport, R.I.
The rest of the month includes dates in Columbus, Ga., Park City, Utah, Loveland, Colo., Denver and Chicago.
Gaudet and Pullapilly, who will get married next month in Stockton Springs, have spent the last few months accepting awards from film festivals in Cleveland, Austin, Texas, and Durham, N.C., among others.
Pullapilly was heading to Vietnam on a nonfilm-related business trip and will miss the Bangor showings, but some of the film’s three subjects will be on hand this weekend for question-and-answer sessions after some showings.