Throughout the trilogy we see Indiana Jones in various stages of his knight's journey in Temple of Doom he goes from mercenary to indentured knight. He stays an indentured knight in Raiders of the Lost Ark and we see the final transition to grail quest knight in The Last Crusade. The intresting thing about The Last Crusade is that we get to see Indie's development as a knight because we see flash backs of Indie in his various stages of knighthood, helping the audience understand why Indie is the way he is.
In the opeing scene Indie is portrayed as a mercenary knight, he takes the Cross of Coronado and although he does acknowledge the fact that "it belongs ina museum" He has also taken it for personal gain. As the film progresses we see Indie's tranformation to indentured knight. He sereves his "lord" Walter Donovan who has assigned him to find the grail. His quest become much more interesting when he is informed that not only are the Nazi's are also searching for the grail but they have kidnapped Indie's father. This is interesting because one of the stages is to atone with the father and also to submit to spiritual authority. Jones Sr. is the figure of spirituality because he understand that finding the grail is not just about the physical cup but enlightenment or illumination. Indie does not think this way and after Jones Sr. and Indie escape they are presented with a fork in the road. One way is towards the grail and the other is to save Marcus. Indie wants to go to Marcus but his father convinces him to go to Berlin. Showing that Indie is beginning to understand that the important thing is not the grail but the spiritual journey.
Remember that Indy's disgust with the government because it took the Ark is the precipitating point for his acceptance in LC to go on the grail quest. Your points about the quest and the atonement with the father are good, but you need to get your work in on time. This is much too late.
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