Maybe I'm spoiled because I work with Rust primarily these days but "fighting the borrow checker" isn't really common once you get it.
1. The borrow checker is indeed a free lunch 2. Your domain lends itself well to Rust, other domains don't 3. Your code is more complicated than it would be in other languages to please the borrow checker, but you are unaware because its just the natural process of writing code in Rust.
There's probably more things that could be going on, but I think this is clear.
I certainly doubt its #1, given the high volume of very intelligent people that have negative experiences with the borrow checker.
Just like any programming paradigm, it takes time to get used to, and that time varies between people. And just like any programming paradigm, some people end up not liking it.
That doesn't mean it's a "free lunch."
Again this person has no trouble understanding the BC, it has trouble with the outcome of satisfying the BC. Also this person is writing Vulkan code, so intelligence is not a problem.
> is quite common and widely understood
This is an opinion expressed in a bubble, which does not in any-way disprove that the reverse is also expressed in another bubble.