Gemma is a disturbing, yet compelling exploration of the complex dynamics between a sexual predator and his teenage victim, told from the perspective of both the pedophile and his prey.
Twelve-year-old Gemma has always known how to keep secrets in order to survive. After all, she hasn’t told anybody that she’s been sexually abused by her alcoholic mother’s boyfriend, Buddy, for the past four years. When Buddy’s friend, Hazen Wood, kidnaps Gemma, the two embark upon a cross-country journey that tests the very limits of her endurance. In brutal and graphic scenes of physical and sexual violence, the young girl’s will is ground down, her spirit seemingly crushed. It is only Gemma’s childlike resilience and fertile imagination that protect her from the worst of the abuses she suffers. And in the end, it is only the healing power of unconditional love that gives Gemma the courage to speak out against her abuser –- and reclaim her dignity as a human being.
