London, Jan 24 : Even though Tom Cruise's movie `Valkyrie' has become a hit in Germany, authorities in the country fear that it may become a propaganda vehicle for Scientology.

German critics had at first not been in favour of the movie, where Cruise played Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, the army officer who tried to blow up the Fuhrer, but they are now giving a positive nod to it.

However, some police and politicians are worried that if the movie becomes a hit, it will give Scientology a boost in Germany, and the German Agency for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), believes that Scientology is an antidemocratic organisation and is keeping it under close observation.

"These Scientologists have two goals in Germany," Times Online quoted an official close to the BfV as saying.

"To get their message to children, and make their organisation respectable. The film does both: it has put a top Scientologist at the centre of a national debate about German history. That's dangerous," the official said.

Michael Brand, a Christian Democrat politician, has appealed to his fellow deputies to call for a boycott of Valkyrie in their constituencies.

"Stauffenberg would have waged resistance against the likes of Tom Cruise," Brand said, adding that Scientology pursued totalitarian goals.

The BfV, which has a brief to monitor terrorism and extremist groups, says the religion makes its members hostile.

"Scientology shapes the political opinions of its members in a way that makes them hostile to the principles of the Constitution," an official said.

"This is not like other Tom Cruise hits," a BfV insider said.

"It's not Mission: Impossible, which is harmless fun. This is a statement about Germany and I anticipate that as with Downfall [another war film], school classes will be taken to see it," the insider added.

Cruise has been dodging questions about his Scientology beliefs from his German interviewers.

"I'm an actor," he told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

"If somebody wants to know about Scientology, let him go into the Internet, or go to church, find out for himself. I'm just talking about the film," he added. (ANI)