Bring a supply of Kleenex to “Room,” playing at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center this weekend. This moving and disturbing film describes the life of a young woman who has been abducted and her 5-year-old son, who is the product of daily rapes by her abductor. “Room” earned well-deserved Golden Globe nominations last week for best actress (Brie Larson as Ma), best screenplay, and best drama.

Ma has been confined for seven years in a backyard shed by Old Nick (Sean Bridgers); her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay) has been confined for his entire life. Directed by Lenny Abrahamson from the prizewinning book by Emma Donoghue, “Room” opens on Jack’s fifth birthday and unfolds primarily through his eyes. For him, there is no other world than the shed, which he calls “room.” He addresses the objects in this world with the same innocence: bed, lamp, table, toilet. The only indicators of a larger universe are what Jack sees through the shed’s skylight and the fuzzy images he watches on their TV.

Ma is remarkably resourceful in finding ways to exist in such a bleak atmosphere. She produces a cake for Jack’s birthday, although he is disappointed not to have candles. She and Jack string eggshells into a pretend snake. To protect her much-loved son, she beds him down in a closet when Old Nick arrives for his nightly rapes.

When Old Nick confesses that he’s lost his job, with his house probably going next, Ma prepares Jack for a dramatic escape precipitated by her fear that their captor will kill rather than free them. Again, she is remarkably innovative, and Jack enters the larger world for the first time in his young life.

The director keeps “Room” from becoming impossibly depressing by concentrating on Jack’s wide-eyed, optimistic responses to his life with Ma. Like any 5-year-old, he has his moments of frustration and rebellion, but he remains an essentially healthy child, thanks in large part to Ma’s careful nurturing. The two escape in the second half of the film, a spoiler that must be revealed because it is such an integral part of “Room.” These two ex-prisoners struggle to adjust to a life of freedom. Joan Allen appears as Ma’s mother and Tom McCamus as her stepfather, helping protect their daughter and grandson from the inevitable barrage of media coverage and shepherding Ma through the difficult transition to an adulthood that was snatched from her at 17. William H. Macy puts in a brief appearance as Ma’s father.

Again, though, the film’s emphasis stays on Jack and how he adapts to his new life. Initially, he rejects the deluge of toys from an eager-to-help public. His long hair becomes an issue, and there is the question of how he will relate to children his own age. Despite the horror of Ma and Jack’s captive life, “Room” remains an essentially positive story, concentrating as it does on how Ma and Jack find the means to survive their unconscionable treatment.

For screening times and tickets, visit mvfilmsociety.com or go to MVTimes event listings.