Titus (2000)

Titus probably doesn't really belong on this list, but I like it so much I couldn't resist.  It uses the text of William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and isn't based on any actual historic event.  It is, however, wonderfully weird and very gory.  The acting is superb.  It takes place simultaneously in ancient Rome and the present, and tells the sad tale of a formerly great man caught in a horrible cycle of revenge, with almost everyone losing in the end.