I’m not saying that is what happened to Vitali, but I think it’s the open question being alluded to.

It is important to be aware and concerned about cultures or industries that foster cult like personality leaders.

It's very clear that many, many people would give up nearly anything -- including years of their lives -- to work with someone as talented as Kubrick. Is that crazy? I wouldn't do it, but others would.

There is nothing wrong in loyalty. What is wrong is unilateral loyalty.

In my view, if there is one I’ve yet to encounter it.

Which would suggest it’s largely the responsibility of each individual to decide what is important to themselves, and how much of themselves they’re prepared to sacrifice in pursuit of said thing.

For some, perhaps works of art that hold meaning for millions of people over many, many years would qualify. For others, it’s a highly paid dev job. I suspect the difference between the two (and all others) “exists” more in the eye of the beholder than folks on any side of the equation would care to accept.

You see it as unilateral loyalty. Perhaps he saw it as something different, or at least lived his life with both eyes open to his own experience. The only thing we can both say for sure is that we will never know for certain.

Sadly all that almost looks like "grateful to be abused".