Ultimately I understood what Dan Masucci was going for with a short film that explores the different roles in a child's life and how he has to learn to grow up without a dominant female role model while his mom is out on the battlefield, but "Beneath the Same Sky" mulls over the same tropes we've seen time and time again from a child struggling with the distance of their parents, and the erratic duty schedules and whatnot. In spite of the performances from the adult leads I just didn't connect with this film as much as I wanted to and didn't feel much sympathy for anyone here regardless of Masucci's best efforts to bring us in at eye level.
 

"Beneath the Same Sky" explores the life of young James as his mother is off at war delivering supplies for the military and has to learn how to develop with just his father whose best intentions are almost never enough. For a film that focuses solely on the exploits and development of children, the performances of the child cast leave so much to be desired.  I never quite felt a sense of sadness or longing from the actor who played James, while some of the scenarios involving his inevitable romance with a female classmate was just too on the nose and hokey to enjoy.

You can definitely sense the chink in the armor in the main scene where James is defended by his female friend by two huge bullies whom she wards off with words and little else.  It's a scene that could have really packed a punch and instead just feels too clumsy to really soak in. Meanwhile I did find the message admirable about the suffering not only from the soldiers but from the children of the soldiers, but the film feels much too head over heels patriotic to take it as anything more than just an ode to the flag instead of a look at a family suffering during war time. Masucci most definitely has the best intentions, but it doesn't help the overall short film in the end.