For the most part – albeit with a couple of notable exceptions – Netflix has avoided the infuriating habit adopted by other streaming services of removing original content from the library. Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to The Water Man, leaving the fantastically-tinged drama as a curious outlier.
The feature-length directorial debut of David Oyelowo came bearing plenty of pedigree, with Oprah Winfrey among the executive producers, while the actor and filmmaker also starred alongside Rosario Dawson, Alfred Molina, and Maria Bello among others.
Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a strong 78 percent approval rating, the story finds an 11 year-old boy heading off on an adventure into a remote forest in an effort to track down a figure of legend said to dwell in the woods, one who could have the power to cheat death and save his sick mother.
The Water Man is technically a Netflix original, but RLJE Films acquired the distribution rights for the United States, where the movie would go on to earn $383,000 at the box office during a limited theatrical run. As fate would have it, though, it’s been revealed that the one country where it isn’t an in-house exclusive will be removing it from the content library imminently.
Despite being branded as a Netflix OG in literally every other country where it’s available to stream, The Water Man is leaving the Stateside lineup this coming Friday, so you’d better watch it while you can, or get that VPN fired up if it’s on your watch-list but you haven’t gotten around to it yet.