Subtitles for YIFY movie Raining Stones

A natural and convincing story about the traps of poverty and the spirit of the poor 5/10

Bob Williams is one of many unemployed in his area and faced with doing cash-in-hand work and odd jobs to keep his family's heads above water. Regardless of his and his wife's hardships they are both committed Catholics. His daughter is having her first communion and Bob wants her to fit in with the others – meaning a new dress and shoes which will total about £100. His attempts to raise the money mostly brings very small reward and frustration. Meanwhile his luck runs nothing but bad and his van is stolen – limiting his ability to pick up jobs and get around. As his debts rise, so do his troubles and his desperation.

The type of film that Ken Loach made his name directing, this film is a touching and natural ode to the spirit of the poor man. The plot is not so much a typical day in the life as a dramatic piece that follows the downward spiral of Bob as a representation of how life on the breadline is one challenge after another. In Bob's life an one-off expense of £100 is a major incident to be gotten through rather than the inconvenience that it is for the majority of us. The film does a very good job of portraying it – it isn't a film noir descent into crime but rather just the spirit of a man fighting to pay the bills. Most of us will have had this at some point but few of us can relate to those that get by daily on odd-jobs and going door-to-door; however the script here lays it out convincingly and naturally, easily allowing me to get into the lives before me. In this regard it is impacting because the humour and desperation of the people is convincing and their day-to-day situation dire.

The cast all take the material and run with it and there are few here that I didn't totally believe. Jones wears the character like a second skin and fits into it really well. His desperation is well complemented by Tomlinson who adds the comic spirit to the bottom classes. The rest of the cast are solid despite not having the limelight in the same way. Brown is good despite having the very occasional rare moment. Phoenix is sweet and natural and the rest of the cast feel mostly real. Loach's direction is grainy and fits the world his story is in.

I hate to use the words over and over again but this is a convincing and natural story and it is touching and engaging as a result. It does a great job of capturing the spirit of the poor, making the best of what they have – but not ever ignoring the fact that Bob et al are the type of shifty people who you wouldn't want to mess with.

Like many, I often found the accents hard to decipher. But I think it speaks to Loach's formidable talent that it's never really in question as to what's happening: we get the story in visible strokes, and we get the emotional feeling in the most minute, detailed way possible. To use a cliched phrase, it has the drama of life, and Loach has a loving touch, even though the outer view of his work is rough and hard: he doesn't separate the funny bits from the painful bits, he lets it all run together. And despite the fact that some find him an "uncinematic" director, I think that's mostly baloney. No, he doesn't impress with his visuals, but that doesn't mean that they're uncinematic; he's working in a way that's more interested in recording emotions (and he still tells a story) and that is cinematic.

The film espouses a wonderful philosophy -- love and prayer is enough. Yet while the film is sympathetic to the emphasis the family places on communion (getting into Heaven), at times it feels like a condemnation of Catholic greed and pie-in-the-sky fantasies of those relying on God to solve their earthly troubles -- after all, He doesn't buy communion dresses. I think that's why the film works so well. It never spells out how intelligent it is, because that's not Loach's intention. Yet what he does is incredibly smart. (Likewise, you can see the politics behind the film, and that's why they work, too: they're behind it, not in your face.) The ending might seem a little too cheery (though cheery is perhaps the wrong word), but I think it works in the tradition of great humanism: things WILL be alright in the end, if you just believe. And because it's humanism, it's true: everything else might be awful, but you're alive, you have a family, you're fighting to go on: that's wonderful.

Loach makes a brilliant choice with the car crash, because it solves something and yet it makes the moral universe of the film more complex: Is he scott free now? Who is the bad guy here? And Loach of course includes the most pragmatic priest in the movies -- pray for the worthless soul as any good Christian would, but realize that he who causes fear in the hearts of good people is not a life worth wrecking yours over. Consider the car crash an act of God (which indirectly benefits God, by supporting a family of followers), rewarding he who believes yet still exists in the practical world trying to make things work (he who doesn't just lay around waiting for God to save him). THIS is Catholic cinema. I'm agnostic, and this touched my soul. It gets at the roots of what real religion does, or is supposed to do: heal, protect, love -- not preach, frighten, or intimidate. So I think even though he opts for a "faith" film (that is, he does not offer a text book on how to solve your problems), Loach's "realism" and pragmatic philosophy still suggests that the everyday is important -- keep at it. It's what leads to the faith, it's what's needed for the faith to work. 9/10

Hyper-realistic masterpiece 5/10

I watched this on Channel 4 late one night a few years ago. I had had a bad day at work, and was dog-tired. On the verge of turning off the TV, I caught the beginning, and I was immediately hooked.

Ken Loach provides a hyper-realistic portrayal of life on the edge in the 1990`s. Bruce Jones (later to play the feckless Les Battersby on Coronation Street) displays a remarkable tenderness as the struggling father who desperately tries to obtain enough money to buy his daughter a communion dress. He, and Ken Loach,indicate that this poor man represents the best of the working class, only forced to crime,in order to feed and clothe his family.He is a true hero.

The grim setting and subject matter (a disintegrating council estate, and dingy pubs) are not allowed to swamp the deeply human nature of the tale, and there are a number of moments (especially provided by Ricky Tomlinson), where the mood is lightened, allowing gritty humour to emerge. The opening, where the two heroes are unsuccessfully trying to steal a sheep is hysterical.

I wouldn`t call myself a great Ken Loach fan, but this is his masterpiece. I
would call it one on the best British films of all time.

Yet another great Ken Loach film. 8/10

Yet another great Ken Loach film. It begins as a somewhat gritty comedy. Bob (Bruce Jones, aka Les Battersby) and his mate Tommy (Ricky Tomlinson) are out of work and desperate for money. They decide to capture a sheep, and sell the meat in the local pub. They also go and steal the turf from the local Conservative Party club grounds (if anyone deserved it then. ).

The heart of the film, though, is Bob's desperation to get the money together to pay for his daughter's Catholic Communion outfit. He ends up borrowing money from the loan sharks, and things begin to go downhill. There is one scene, where a loan shark "pays a visit" after Bob misses his payments. Bob is out, but his wife and daughter are in. There is no serious physical violence in this scene, but plenty of verbal threats. For me, this is one of the most menacing scenes in film I have seen in years. Loach directs it to perfection.

As often with Loach, behind an ostensible political message, lies a complex moral analysis of real people's lives, handled with great sensitivity.

Very close to the bone 8/10

Christ this film is set in Middleton, pretty much where I live. I remember seeing this when I was about 10 years old and being taken aback at it's accuracy. Everything about it is working-class Manchester, portrayed objectively for the most part. Mancunians appreciate honesty, self mockery and self reflection. My dad and my brother both like this film and I can see why - they're part of it in a sense, as am I. It's not all about struggling to pay the rent, queueing up in the dole office and chugging through the drizzle ridden streets in a Ford Transit - it's about looking at your own life and your own culture being represented by a director who tries to keep things as organic as possible. It's about recognising your environment, where you have come from.

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