Raining Stones is a 1993 film directed by Ken Loach and starring Bruce Jones, Julie Brown, Ricky Tomlinson, Tom Hickey and Gemma Phoenix. Written by Jim Allen, 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 an economic recession with crushing unemployment. Bob and his best friend Tommy try all sorts of schemes to make money including stealing sheep to sell to local butchers, tearing up turf from government buildings to re-sell and cleaning out bathroom pipes. Bob's wife Anne tries to help but lacks marketable skills (she is let go by a seamstress factory for not knowing how to sew). Despite their best efforts, both men cannot make any job stick or reduce their debts. Despite his family's tenuous financial condition, Bob plans to buy a new outfit for his daughter Coleen's First Communion, though this is prohibitively costly.

Awards