SOUTH

SOUTH (Milestone, 88 mins., unrated) In its prologue, this silent 1919 documentary announces that it will tell ''a wonderful and true story of British pluck, self-sacrifice, and indomitable courage.'' And there really isn't much jingoistic hype to that statement. The movie chronicles Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914-16 voyage to uncharted regions of Antarctica, an expedition that left its members stranded for months when their ship, the Endurance, was trapped and crushed by fields of ice. The crisply restored images -- shot by Frank Hurley, a member of Shackleton's team -- provide a window on a vivid, authentic adventure, recording both the mundane and the awe-inspiring, from a sailor administering seasick medicine to the sled dogs, to the Endurance's final, agonizing descent to its watery grave. B -- David Everitt

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