Raining Stones is a 1993 film directed by Ken Loach and starring Bruce Jones, Julie Brown, Ricky Tomlinson, Tom Hickey and Gemma Phoenix. It tells the story of a man who cannot afford to buy his daughter a First Communion dress, and makes disastrous choices in trying to raise the money. The film won the Jury Prize at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

England is in the midst of a depression with crushing unemployment. Bob and his best friend Tommy engage in all manner of schemes to make money, including stealing sheep to sell to local butchers, tearing up sod from government buildings to re-sell, and cleaning out bathroom pipes. Bob's wife Anne tries to help, but doesn't have marketable skills (having been let go from a seamstress factory for not knowing how to sew). Despite their best efforts, they are unable to make any job stick or get ahead of their debt. Despite their tenuous financial condition, Bob plans to buy a brand new outfit for his daughter Coleen's First Communion, even though doing so is prohibitively costly.

Awards