Bender. The Beginning 2021

Set against the turmoil of 1919 Russia, the film threads politics, crime, and ambition around a single priceless relic—the scepter once owned by Count Pyotr Rumyantsev. An American buyer arrives in Moscow to negotiate a deal worth one million dollars, hoping to move the relic from Russia to Constanța on the Black Sea. The plan hinges on a courier who can faithfully carry the scepter to its destination, while high-level figures weigh the risks and rewards of such a transfer.

In the midst of this web, a daring conman named Ibrahim Bender — Sergei Bezrukov — narrowly escapes execution by leaping onto the very train that bears the valuable relic. The journey becomes anything but straightforward when the train is attacked by Makhnovist insurgents, and the courier managing the scepter hides it inside one of the coffins in the baggage car before he is killed. Ibrahim uncovers the crucial hiding place by sheer happenstance, setting the stage for a collision of wits and greed.

As the rails roll toward Solnechnomorsk, Ibrahim’s pursuit of the prize collides with Ostap Zadunaisky — Aram Vardevanyan — a street-smart yet idealistic aspiring actor who has his own passion in play: Sonya, the funeral director’s daughter. The two men, each driven by very different dreams—one by survival and profit, the other by a longing to expose the truth and seize a better future—form an uneasy alliance. Their partnership turns the search for the scepter into a tense game of cat and mouse, as they navigate a city brimming with suspicion, shifting loyalties, and danger at every turn.

The story unfolds with the scepter still hidden and the clock ticking, weaving together moments of peril, cunning schemes, and fragile alliances. As the plan to steal the relic intensifies, the film keeps its focus on the human motives that pull people toward risk—greed, love, honor, and the drive to survive in a country torn apart by civil conflict. The pursuit becomes more than a simple heist; it becomes a reflection on who gets to shape history and who bears the costs of those choices.

In a tale where every decision could tilt the balance of power, Ibrahim Bender and Ostap Zadunaisky find themselves locked in a dangerous dance around a scepter that could redefine fortunes and futures. Their cooperation, born from necessity, promises both danger and possibility, as the relic’s fate hangs in the balance and the next move could change everything.