In 1997, conductor Zubin Mehta hired filmmaker Zhang Yimou (The Road Home) to direct a lavish production of Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot set in Florence, Italy.  Mehta knew Zhang had no experience with opera but decided he'd be able to create a more faithful version of the story, which takes place in the Forbidden City of Beijing and in other productions usually resembles the interior of a gaudy Chinese restaurant.

Turandot was a big hit in Italy, and somewhere along the way Mehta and Zhang decided to take a stab at moving the production to the actual Forbidden City.  The documentary film The Turandot Project shows the trials and tribulations encountered en route to the opera's opening night in a country that has often banned Zhang's films for being too politically subversive.  In other words, this is not another Blair Witch spoof.

Puccini's opera, which was unfinished at the time of his death, is set in the Ming Dynasty and focuses on a princess who makes her eager suitors answer three riddles.  If each isn't correctly solved, the man is killed. It's a precarious situation to be in…just like the limb Zhang and Mehta find themselves dangling from throughout the production.

There are the obvious things that you might expect to go wrong, like the melding of Italian and Chinese crew and performers (there are translators everywhere).  The two cultures meet, but hardly ever clash, except one memorable battle between Zhang and an Italian lighting designer.  The intricate costumes, which number in the thousands, needed a lot of last-minute adjustments.  And since the Forbidden City is outside, a booming thunderstorm can't be ruled out.

But Allan Miller's (Small Wonders) documentary is still plenty interesting. I can't decide whether my favorite part was when a group of actual Chinese soldiers were cast in the play but expressly forbidden from looking at any of the ballerinas, or when the performing arts director explains how she's sure she'll eventually end up with a lengthy prison sentence because of her involvement in the production.  Oh, the good times they had.

If you're an opera fan and are familiar with Turandot, then you probably should check this one out.  If you'd rather be drawn and quartered than even walk past a building where an opera once took place, you probably should sit this one out.

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