Raising the Heights

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Raising the Heights ★½ 1997 (R)

Tensions escalate in the Brooklyn neighbor of Crown Heights when a drug deal, involving a high school teacher, re sults in the death of a young girl. So the victim's brother, Michael, decides to take revenge by taking a teacher hostage, with reporter Judy Burke leading a media bar rage about the tense situation. Good in tentions can't quite make up for the amateur filmmaking. 86m/C VHS . Gilbert Brown Jr., John Knox, Fia Perera; D: Max Gottlieb; W: Max Gottlieb.