One of Loach's finest films, by turns funny and desperate, "Stones" is also a tender and heartbreaking look at modern life in Britain, told from the perspective of a penniless man too proud to accept a loan from his parish priest (Tom Hickey). While the film opens on a hilarious scene of Jones and hapless pal Tommy (the fabulous Ricky Tomlinson) trying to nab a wild sheep they hope to turn into meat, Loach never lets the slapstick elements overshadow his often grim realism. His overriding concern is to sympathetically depict human foibles and to pay tribute to the spirit of his working-class heroes, truthfully and without romanticizing their lot.