I’m guessing that, unless you’re from North Dakota, you’ve never heard of Hazel Miner. I definitely had not until I saw the new film, Hazel’s Heart, available now on streaming platforms.
Based on a true story, the film follows Hazel (Madelyn Dundon), who lived the life of an ordinary 15-year-old in rural North Dakota. She did the chores assigned to her on the family farm and went to the one-room-schoolhouse together with her 10-year-old brother, Emmet (Xavier Bielinski), and her 8-year-old sister, Myrdith (Genevieve Bielinski). Excited about going to Bismark for high school the following year, Hazel wanted to be a teacher. Her terror of standing up and speaking in front of people, however, didn’t bode well for Hazel’s prospects.
The Ides of March brought what became known as the spring blizzard of 1920 to the people of Center, North Dakota. Blanche (Laurie Fortier), Hazel’s mother, voiced her worry to her husband, William (Stelio Savante), about letting the children go to school that day, but William took them in their sleigh, promising to come back for the children at the end of the day.
When the storm was immanent, teacher Miss Francis (Fanni Cash) dismissed school early. As Hazel got the horse and sleigh ready while waiting for her father, the storm intensified and the wind spooked the horse, causing it to bolt, throwing Hazel into the back with her siblings. Hazel tried to get control, but by the time she did, they had travelled away from anything recognizable and off the road. The skittish horse caused the sleigh to overturn. They were stuck in white-out conditions.
Hazel’s Heart wonderfully uses the scripture passage of 1 Corinthians 13—St. Paul’s hymn to love—as the strength that Hazel drew upon as she did what she could to keep them all alive through the blizzard. She had memorized it as a school assignment, but stage fright overtook her when she was supposed to recite it for the class.
Love truly is the center of this film. Love caused William to reach out to his neighbors to help search for the children when it became clear they were not on the road home. Love motivated the neighbors to search in frigid conditions. And the love that Hazel had for her brother and sister led her to do everything she could to keep them warm and awake during the storm.
Siblings can get on each other’s nerves in the best of times, but when a crisis hits, love takes over. Love that is patient and kind; love that does not seek its own interest, but endures all things. That’s the love on display in Hazel’s Heart and that’s the love the Scripture calls all of us to show, in good times and in bad.