Favorite films of historical sweep:
Kurosawa's "Ran"
Lean's "Passage to India"
Altman's "Nashville"
The scariest, though, has to be the footage Leni Riefenstahl used in "Triumph of the Will." Pseudo-documentary footage lit, at times, as if by the fires of hell.
By the way, loved "AngelA," too. Completely unexpected and winning. Though there are a couple of scenes where you can see our AngelA standing on a ledge in order to tower over her co-star.