Thinking:

Col. Abel to his lawyer:

Abel: Standing there like that you reminded me of the man that used to come to our house when I was young. My father used to say: “watch this man”. So I did. Every time he came. And never once did he do anything remarkable.

Donovan: And I remind you of him?

Abel: This one time, I was at the age of your son, our house was overrun by partisan border guards. Dozens of them. My father was beaten, my mother was beaten, and this man, my father’s friend, he was beaten. And I watched this man. Every time they hit him, he stood back up again. So they hit him harder. Still he got back to his feet. I think because of this they stopped the beating. They let him live. “Stoikiy muzhik”. I remember them saying. Which sort of means like uh, “standing man” … standing man …