It seems you are trying to open the file in the earlier version of Office. Can you try to open the file in Office 2003 itself. Hope it may works for you. Earlier versions wont support the latest version files. Better you open the file (from original backup) in Office 2003]
I am fairly sure that the file formats from Word 97 to 2003 are the same. In Word 2007 it has all changed and now supports an open standard.
Office 2003 is capable of opening all previous versions anyhow.
I think it sounds more like the file is corrupt.
There are loads of tools for attempting a repair (some free). See this google search
www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=corr...ile+repair&meta=
