Search - Raining Stones on DVD

A film about dignity and respect

07/25/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I try not to miss a Ken Loach film. Unless I'm ignorant about films, I find few directors nowadays tackling the issues of working class life in our modern capitalist society. When I saw this not entirely unbiased (not necessarily a bad thing) film I felt it was about dignity and respect. In his struggle to provide his daughter with the proper attire for a communion, the worker-father turns it into a matter of principle although linked to survival. At least that's what I got out of it. Check out films by Mike Leigh, John Sayles, Michael Winterbottom."

Hard edged and realistic

D I Jones | Hyde, Cheshire United Kingdom | 02/16/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm biased. Two of my friends are in this film (Patrick and Anthony Warde) and a couple of scenes were set in their club.That said, the film is realistic and set in real locations. Loach didn't have to build sets or work hard to convey the hopelessness of unemployment in a Northern town, the people and places did that for him. His talent is in bringing this to the screen and still giving the people the dignity they deserve as they struggle to make some kind of life in a post-industrial wasteland."

Gripping and powerful...

Larry from Brooklyn | Brooklyn | 12/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This Ken Loach film leads to the kind of shattering emotional climax that fans of Rossellini will understand at once. Stay with this even if you are alienated by the setting and seeming desperation of the characters; unlike many of Loach's films, it does not end up leaving one with a sense of deep moral despair.

If you are new to Loach, think of using English subtitles - but at the risk of losing something at the powerful climax. This is my favorite of all his films; I consider him a world class talent. Only Mike Leigh of the current generation of British filmakers is in his league."

Glad to see this version with English subtitles....

Larry from Brooklyn | Brooklyn | 03/04/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a deeply passionate art film with the kind of political and social immediacy that makes it universal. It's a simple neo-realist situation, an unemployed father tries to get the money together for his daughter's communion dress and eventually is beholding to ruthless loansharks who threaten his family and his dignity as a person. The resulting emotional confrontation with the loanshark and and its denouement with a parish priest delivers the kind of emotional jolt and power that is rarely arrived at honestly in movies (think: Edge of the City or Ordet or Body and Soul or Beyond Rangoon). This is masterful filmmaking that enobles very humble people in domestic situations.

Loach is not for everyone, but with Mike Leigh, he is a genuine voice of blue-collar Britain. A note on the soundtrack: the Scottish accents and idiom are sometimes so thick, you may wish to play the English subtitles especially if you're watching with a bunch of friends."