A beautiful movie, I liked it a lot. Excellent performances and the film was very touching. I liked the photography and the music. This is not a film for everyone, it takes a certain audience.
However if the sherrif was the father of Virginia's son, and yet the boy was in love and married the sherrif's daughter...does that mean he married his sister?
His half sister??
I am confused. And the business with the earlobs did not clarify this for me.
No, they're not related. It was a critical point to make; that's why the movie cleared this up so early on. The earlobe thing does clarify it completely in this particular story. I learned about this in university. Genetically, it is unlikely that he could've been his father based on their earlobes. Therefore, the boy and girl are not blood related.
There are some rare cases of the recessive/dominant earlobe gene not following the "rules", but this film is under the assumption that the basic genetic determination is accurate. Worst case, if she was his half-sister, it would not be the end of the world...and the movie tells us towards the end (*spoiler*)...
that they will have healthy, happy babies. :)
*edit: Genetic info, w/earlobes:
http://suite101.com/article/human-genetics-lab--eye-color-genes-dimple s-earlobe-traits-a284666