Talk:The Big Exchange

Plot synopsis
The one cited in the article is hilariously off-base (and isn't in the source cited; the source itself, taken from the video release synopsis, is also difficult to parse since it's thick with irony and tongue-in-cheek quotes from the film). This is all understandable, since the premise is so obscure to outside viewers.

I'll try to simply translate (with editing for brevity and style) the Russia wiki plot section, since it's more or less on point. None of the synopses reveal the denouement, and I never bothered to watch this Perestroika movie, so sadly it'll remain a mystery.

The plot centers on the 1961 monetary reform in the Soviet Union, which involved denomination of all currency 10:1; conspicuously, the copper kopecks (1/100th of a ruble) were excluded from the exchange due to expense of re-minting them, effectively becoming 10 times as valuable. The protagonists of the movie are tasked by a Soviet government functionary (who is also a secret millionaire) to enact a get-rich scheme which involves them touring the country and exchanging the old paper banknotes, soon to be on their way out, for small copper coins. The film then deals with their misadventures on the road.