Like Solanas' previous film Tangos (1985), South is a film about a forced exile (in the form of imprisonment) and a painful reunion in the midst of political turmoil. It is also a story about the healing power of nostalgia. The story is set in 1983 just after the fall of the military dictatorship and the restoration of the democracy. For the past five years, Floreal has been a political prisoner. He is released in the evening, but rather than returning straight home to his wife Rosi, he decides to wander around to gather his thoughts and sort through his mixed emotions concerning not only the deaths of his closest friends, but also the lonely, long-suffering Rosi's affair with Floreal's best friend Roberto. Everything in his old neighborhood has changed dramatically and as Floreal aimlessly wanders, a dense fog blankets the political pamphlet covered streets, lending a dreamlike atmosphere to the night. Occasionally, he is visited by the ghosts of former friends and co-workers. Meanwhile, Rosi nervously waits in her bedroom for Floreal to return.
~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide