Land of Gold

California history unfolds along with the making of an opera in Jon Elses entrancing documentary Returning to the work of composer John Adams and librettistdirector Peter Sellars the subjects of his film Wonders Are Many Else peeks behind the curtain as the pair prepare their collaboration Girls of the Golden West for its 2017 San Francisco Opera premiere Ostensibly a look at the nutsandbolts of production from informal rehearsals to glittering opening night the documentary also investigates the Gold Rush era that inspired the show Soprano Julia Bullock is mesmerizing as the operas star and the films narrator employing passages from a reallife diary to make vivid the boomandbust of a rapacious time