Raining Stones

On a Manchester council estate, Bob, an unemployed family man, attempts to raise money to buy a communion dress for his young daughter. He is driven to extremes - both comic and tragic - to get the cash, and ends up putting his family at risk to do so. Ken Loach is the master of social realism and he uses this film to set out the social and economic structures of capitalism (and religion) that trap people in poverty and leads them to desperate measures. The scene in the dress shop is particularly poignant, with the shop assistant listing to Bob and his wife the prices of all the accessories their daughter should have to go with her dress, tacitly encouraging them to buy at the top end of the range. If you can't understand why people would ever live beyond their means, and risk their family for it, this film will take you there. Here's the trailer.