Based on a True Story: TV Movie Portrays Dark Side of Scientology

Heiner von Rönn could reel off a sobering list of the people and things he has lost to Scientology. They include thousands of euros, 10 years of his life, his former wife, and both his children.

Fifteen years after leaving the organization, Rönn recently found himself confronted with his own past again, complete with all the terminology and threats from back then. He was on the set of a German TV production, where rooms in a Scientology office had been meticulously reconstructed. The TV drama, whose plot is inspired by real events in Rönn's life, deals with a family that falls apart because of the organization, which in Germany is regarded as a business rather than a church and is monitored by domestic intelligence agencies.

The team from Southwest Broadcasting (SWR), the public broadcaster in charge of the project, went about its work with an unusual degree of secrecy. Signs, screenplays and even the director's clapboard all bore a fake title, "The Dead Man in the Sound," in a bid to disguise the project's actual subject matter. Shooting for the film, which was produced for Germany's ARD consortium of public broadcasters, was kept completely secret. The filmmakers plan to make the project public for the first time this week, when they present the completed film on Tuesday. The drama will air on March 31 under the title "Until Nothing Is Left."

This will be the first German feature film about Scientology, the first drama to use the controversial belief system as evening entertainment. Has German television become more daring? Or has Scientology simply become more innocuous?

Bouts of Paranoia

In previous years, ARD has often broadcast movies about sensitive social issues such as the scandal involving the drug Thalidomide, which was known in Germany as Contergan. Now, though, the broadcaster has turned its attention to an organization which has a reputation for behaving ruthlessly toward its critics and journalists. But was ARD's paranoia during the film's production really justified?

Carl Bergengruen, head of TV movies for SWR, defends the secrecy with which the film was made. "Scientology kept trying to use a variety of methods to find out details about the project," he says. "We had reason to worry that the organization would use all the legal means at its disposal to prevent the film from being broadcast." And so the project was "kept under wraps for as long as possible for security reasons."

Nevertheless, the team was still subject to minor bouts of paranoia. On one occasion, there were reports on set that a man who acts as a kind of spokesperson for Scientology had been spotted. Another time, one of director Niki Stein's informants found that the trunk of his car had been broken into. He didn't think anything of the break-in until Stein's telephone rang -- and he remembered the notebooks he had left in the car's trunk. "We know you're making a movie about Scientology," said a voice on the other end of the line, before hanging up. When approached about the incident, Scientology denied any involvement.

Losing Track of One's Life

Although there were no other incidents of that kind, Rönn nevertheless felt a familiar sense of unease during filming. He's a quiet man, and he often looks to his current wife, Astrid, for help as he relates his stories. "That's how it was, in my opinion," she says, and answers questions on behalf of her husband.

She, too, used to be involved in Scientology. She left the organization with Rönn, while his first wife stayed -- together with the children.

Astrid von Rönn is better at keeping track of names, dates and events, while her husband Heiner sometimes comes across as someone who could easily lose track of his own life. Perhaps that helps to explain how fully grown adults could start believing in things like "thetans" (a concept in Scientology similar to the soul) and spending tens of thousands of euros on vitamins and so-called "auditing" sessions.

Rönn had never heard of Scientology before he was talked into taking a "communication course" in 1984. His wife at the time had already been involved with the organization for a few months, having been persuaded to join by her brother. It took more than 10 years before Rönn managed to get back out. By that time he was deeply in debt and socially isolated. His family life was in tatters. Rönn felt he wanted to give meaning to his experiences, at least in retrospect, by serving as a warning to others. That's how he ended up getting involved with the SWR project.

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• Part 1: TV Movie Portrays Dark Side of Scientology
• Part 2: Fighting for Custody