'1989' is a creative documentary and a high-politics drama about the collapse of the Iron Curtain. A young technocrat, Miklos Nemeth, becomes Hungary's new prime minister to save the country's appalling economy. He decides to remove the expensive border control apparatus from the state budget. A young couple from East Germany is encouraged by the rumours that the Hungarian border to Austria will be opened and decide to make a go for it. But Nemeth's decision has set him up against formidable adversaries and communist hardliners. The young couple are caught up in the political power-game, and the young man is shot dead at the border. This tragic event paradoxically accelerates Nemeth's final decision to open the borders, and soon after the Berlin wall falls.