This weekend, the television debut of the movie Rust, starring and produced by Corbin Bernsen of L.A. Law fame, is taking place. For a few people, this event will hold some very deep meaning.
Wind the clock back to 2005. Montreal blogger Kyle MacDonald begins trading with a red paper clip. His goal is to trade up to a house. The world watches as the small town of Kipling, Saskatchewan trades movie roles in Bernsen’s upcoming film Donna on Demand for a two storey house. The deal is sealed, and life begins to shine anew in the small Saskatchewan town. There’s an economic prosperity, as Bernsen comes to the town and casts several locals in the film. But Bernsen wants to come back, as there was something about Kipling that touched him. He promises to return, and does, with a script that was written with Kipling in mind.
Fast forward to 2006. RCMP surround a small, abandoned farm house outside of Kipling, Saskatchewan, as a Canada wide manhunt comes to a conclusion. Police have tracked the notorious pedophile, Peter Whitemore, and his two victims, a 13 year old boy from Winnipeg and a 10 year old Saskatchewan boy. In the trial after, it is revealed that Whitemore repeatedly raped each boy, kept one on a leash and demanded that they call him master. Both boys lives, but would have to deal with the emotional scars for years to come.
And the community of Kipling is left with a physical reminder in an abandoned farm house.
Fast foward to 2009. The weather is cold, the wind is raw, but a movie crew and residents of the town gather around an abandoned farm house outside of Kipling. The scene is to film the house burning to the ground as it is part of an emotional event for one of the characters in the film. The character in his youth, burned the house his family were in, killing them all.
The same house that Peter Whitemore held two boys hostage, is about to be completely destroyed forever. At the time, Corbin Bernsen did not know the full details of the case surrounding Whitemore. He notices one boy watching, and says “Pretty exciting, huh?” The boy responds with an enthusiastic “Yeah.” It’s later mentioned to Bernsen that the boy he spoke to was in fact one of the boys Whitemore held hostage in the very house that begins to light on fire.
The emotional scars will always remain, years after the physical ones are gone. But the complete destruction of a house for the filming of a movie would be the start of that healing process. Not only for two boys, but for an entire community that had grown used to the house that no one talked about.
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