In This World Can’t Tear Me Down, Cesare returns to his neighborhood after 20 years and realizes that everything has changed.
Cesare is Zero’s childhood friend. The two of them grew apart as they grew older, and then Cesare was sent to rehab, which is why Zero has not seen him or heard from him for 20 years.
When Cesare and Zero meet after two decades, it becomes clear to them that their lives are very different. Much to Zero’s dismay, Cesare joins the Nazis who are opposed to the migrants living in their neighborhood.
A special bond
Cesare and Zero met at the arcade when they were both young. While Cesare initially looked like a bully to Zero, he eventually gave Zero a token that he needed to finish a game, and the two of them finished that game together.
Zero, who was never picked by anyone to be on their team, felt like Cesare had picked him. It was a special moment for Zero, and from that day, Cesare became his friend. With Cesare by his side, no one dared to fight Zero.
Despite being so different, the two of them became friends because Cesare could talk to Zero about his insecurities and fears, something that he could not do with his other friends who saw this as a sign of weakness.
Sarah had asked Zero to take care of Cesare, as she believed that Cesare was more sensitive than he looked and that he was a little messed up. Zero took Sarah’s advice and treated Cesare like a human being, not like a machine only good for beating people up.
They were good friends until Zero started liking punk rock. He changed his style and started spending time with other people who shared the same interests. Cesare did not understand any of this, and the two friends grew distant.
One day, Cesare called Zero out of the blue and asked him for some money. Zero lent him the money, which Cesare spent on drugs, as he had started using by then. That was the last time Zero heard from Cesare because Cesare was sent to rehab after that.
Not finding one’s place in the world
When Cesare returns to the neighborhood, his mother requests Zero to help him feel at home by spending time with him and talking to him more. She also invites Zero to dinner.
When Zero had earlier spoken to Cesare, he did not know what to ask him or say to him. It is the same when he goes to his house for dinner because the two of them do not have anything in common.
The world in which Cesare and Zero were friends does not exist anymore; everything around Cesare had changed.
Cesare admits that he did not want to come back to this neighborhood and tried to do everything he could to avoid coming back, but it did not work. Cesare could have left the rehab 15 years ago, but he chose to stay there because only the people there could understand how to deal with an ex-addict.
Zero complains about his work, but to Cesare, who cannot find work, that does not sound good. On top of that, Zero does not want to take him anywhere. The night comes to an end on a disappointing note.
It gets worse when Zero rips the anti-migrant posters put up by the Nazis in the neighborhood and gets in trouble with them. It is Cesare who comes to rescue him, but he also tells him that this is the only time he will be helping him because he is also one of the Nazis.
Cesare then speaks to the media about not wanting the migrants in the neighborhood, not knowing that he is being used by different people for their own agendas.
Zero decides to talk to him and try to change his opinions, but Cesare dismisses him because Cesare does not want to be lectured by someone who cannot understand him or his life.
Cesare feels like an invisible ghost in this neighborhood; he is nothing more than an ex-addict no one cares about or remembers. No one listened to him until he started objecting to letting the migrants stay here. Now that he is vocal about it, he feels seen for the first time.
When Zero’s side clashes with the Nazis, Cesare publicly admits that he is not mad at the migrants. His problem is with the people at the top, who keep dumping all their problems in this neighborhood. This results in the Nazis turning against Cesare and beating him up.
Cesare is one of the people taken to the police station for questioning when the police are trying to find the person who hit Ludovico. Zero and his friends find a video of Cesare hitting Ludovico, but they decide not to give this to the police when they see Cesare leaving the police station all by himself.
Now that Cesare has lost his Nazi friends also, he does not have anyone. Although he is not the only one who will not get in trouble for hitting Ludovico, he is still alone, a ghost unable to find his place in this world.
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