Bender: The Beginning

Bender: The Beginning (2021) is a Russian period adventure you can watch online on iFILM — equal parts action, comedy and drama. The year is 1919. Idealistic young Osip Zadunaisky crosses paths with Ibrahim Bender, a smooth-talking con man who claims Turkish citizenship and never met a scheme he didn't like.

Bender pulls Osip into a treasure hunt for a jewel-encrusted royal scepter, with the local mafia and White Guard officers chasing the same prize. To stay alive, the well-bred Osip has to pick up the trade: flattery, soft fraud, blackmail and, when charm fails, his fists. He also falls for two women at once — a pure local girl and a dangerous foreign beauty. This is how the legendary Ostap Bender is born.

Sergei Bezrukov plays Bender opposite Aram Vardevanyan as Osip, with Nikita Kologrivy and Taisiya Vilkova in support. Director Igor Zaytsev frames the prequel as a brisk costume caper full of chases and southern flavor. Stream Bender: The Beginning (2021) online on iFILM.